Through dust and ashes
by Virdu
Summary: The world of the Shinobi is at an end, will the arrival of the first Human Spectre grant them salvation, or is it just the beginning of a new war?
1. Chapter 1

Author's notes: Update: April 2012; Started going through the story again to correct some grammatical errors and rewrite parts that are hard to read. However, it _will_ be a slow process as I will be forced to divide what little available time I already have. And I don't want to take too long to write and add new chapters.

As for the story itself, it have many twists and turns. So there are more to many of the situations within the storyline than meets the eye. Sufficed to say, it is worth keeping an open mind while reading.

With that little heads up having been noted, I hope you enjoy the story.

As for the disclaimer: Neither Mass Effect nor Naruto belongs to me. Or else I would not be working part-time in a grocery store.

* * *

The battlefield lay dark, fire and smoke filled the ruins of one of the few cities to survive the initial purge, only to be beaten into and beyond submission by a second assault. Few buildings remained in a complete state of disrepair, only the raw foundations allowed them to remain standing, while the rest had collapsed. The gardens had been burned to a crisp and every facility had been thoroughly bombed, remains of the long since dead local population littered the streets. With the world consumed by death, funerals did not happen. The graves become too numerous to count. And the world beyond suffered no less, this once beautiful but hardy world had been turned into a visage of hell itself, dying beneath the smog that covered much of the skies. The first bombardment brought about that catastrophic change, leaving much of the world in the shade. No solace could be found in the occasional times of sunlight, for it made it easier for their genocidal enemies to find them.

The world had become hell, truly.

A teenage girl appeared in the street, running as fast as she could... but weeks with minimal amount of food had reduced her energy to little of a fraction. She would rather halt, but such an action is nothing short of a death sentence, so the girl kept running. Even though every muscle in her body screamed at her to stop.

A bolt of light struck the street just a few feet behind her, smashing a sizable gap in it's surface and hurled her through the air as the shock wave blasted across the immediate area.. landing on her belly with a loud cough. Fear caused her to freeze, barely able to move as she came to suffer from the resulting shell shock. The girl slammed her head into the ground, feeling her limbs come back to life from the resulting pain, allowing her to weakly crawl forwards at least, all while she heard herself plead into thin air... "Please help, someone!" and prayed to whichever saint had not yet abandoned her as the machine appeared from the smoke obscuring the crater, a six-legged monstrosity, an elongated neck and a small head that shined with a bright light, coming closer by the moment. The girl closed her eyes and prepared to see her ancestors.

"Hinata!" A boyish voice roar the eerie silence before hell broke out once again, a creature landing on top of her, shielding her body with it's own. A familiar sight as she gazed up at it. A dark figure with the resemblance of twisted fox, elongated claws.. skin that seemed to burn with the hate of the underworld and six tails swaying along in the wind, the most noteworthy being the fox skeleton it was clad with, made purely out of the same energy that made the rest of the demon cloak. It's face appearing as but a mask of toothy jaws and bright white unblinking eyes. It's maw opened and filled it with Chakra, which quickly compressed and solidified to the point it became an orb, and launched it at the machine with so much power that the claws digging deeply into the ground stood as the only thing preventing the demon from flying away from the recoil as the machine vanished in an explosion that formed a massive crater across the cityscape behind it.

Hinata looked over her shoulders at the destruction and then up at the fox as the cloak withdrew, revealing Naruto as he hurried to help her getting up from the ground and gently encouraging for the girl to follow him. "We got to hurry to the meeting spot, all survivors must assemble at the Sun Free diner." he quickly told her as consecutive explosions and other signs of combat occurred elsewhere. "We don't have much time."

* * *

"What do you mean, contact?" John Shepard asked as he reviewed the latest signal report. He was about to give the order to head to Illium from Haestrom when EDI reacted upon a series of recognizable signals.

"There are significant Geth activity in the Kalin system in the outskirts of the veil. Combat operations it seems, but whomever they are fighting is not listed in the database nor the galactic codex." the AI summarized flatly.

"So you're saying that the Geth are waging a war against an species that we don't know about? Stage of development?" the Commander asked.

"Affirmative. The unknown species seem to be, according to intercepted Geth transmissions, in the industrial age. All other data are non-existent, but they are organic, no doubt." the AI replied.

Joker quickly contributed his thought to the conversation, "Or it may be just a trap."

"I don't think they would attack a species we don't even know about and expect to attract our attention. Whatever it is. It warrants attention. Joker, set course for the Kalin system and step on it." Shepard turned to the ships AI next, "Call for everyone to get to the briefing room."

* * *

The pair of Shinobi arrived at the Sun Free diner and entered the hole next to where the the door used to be before this place got reduced to rubble, and stepped across a floor that seemed on the verge of breaking, the furniture either gone or shattered across the room.

"You sure took your fucking time getting here." a familiar voice spoke up to the immediate annoyance of Naruto. A tall blond man stepped out from the shadows, dragging his scythe along the floor. The remains of a machine stuck on it's blades. "Caught this little shit watching the place. The hiding spot's useless now."

"T-then we can't waste any more time." Hinata declared, stumbling briefly while Naruto opened a hidden entrance under the mangled carpet.

"Where's your team?" Naruto asked, pointing down the entrance as he opened it.

"All gone." Hidan responded as he waited for the teens to climb down it before he went down himself, closing the hatch behind him.

"You sure took your sweet time." Tenten seconded Hidan's opinion and berated them in an annoyed manner, and received a few muttering words in response.

"Aw, come on! We don't have time for this!" Naruto grumbled at the girl, whom only stopped with great reluctance as time became more of an issue every passing moment as the group picked up speed. Roaming through a tunnel that barely still held together. The hideout basically being one of the shelters that used to belong to the now defunct Akatsuki, all but a few members had perished. And those few survivors pushed aside their plans when the devastating machine invasion began and instead organized a resistance and refuge for survivors. But a full year of constant bombardment and lightning assaults of massive armies of death-spewing metal monstrosities had reduced the population in and outside the refuge to almost nothing. Any hope of victory or even survival currently being at it's darkest now.

After a long run, the group arrived at the fortified entrance to the shelter and gave the password so that they could enter. The first room simply being a large space of nothing, except the collection of a few people whom awaited their arrival.

"Got any good news?" one of the two remaining leaders of the remnants of the resistance, Nagato, asked.. not looking like he'd allow himself too high a hope.

"Destroyed those that followed us, but our teams are gone. Had to save Hinata from one of the big ones, or we would have lost her too." Naruto explained shortly.

"Hinata, if you were against just one, why did you not summon a shell to protect yourself? As the host of the Sanbi, you should had been able too." Nagato asked with a grim voice.

Hinata bowed in an apologetic manner.. "I'm sorry. My team's gone and I nearly ran out of Chakra." but was quickly comforted by Naruto, one of the extremely few sources of comfort these days.

"My team got wasted, and if I don't get some suitable sacrifices soon, I won't be standing around for much longer." Hidan informed them, snorting in anger at his enemy for being useless for his rituals.

"Yeah, my comrades bit the dust also." Tenten reported in turn, lamenting deep down.. but did not afford herself to show it.

Nagato shook his head. "It seems we won't last for much longer. All of us are tired of this war, and the machines out there are readying for a major assault against us." he sighed.. "This may be the end."

Konan whom stood next to him remained completely stoic, but the prospect of the end of the world weighted her down just as much as everyone else.

"How much longer until they get here?" the voice belonging to another remaining former Akatsuki member Kisame asked, sitting against a wall further away tending to what seemed like bullet wounds on Samehada.

"It may still be a few hours before the final battle begins I reckon. You should rest, and find comfort in any way you can." Nagato suggested softly, his gaze lingering towards the youths before he slowly turned back to his remaining childhood friend.

* * *

"Everyone's assembled, sir." Miranda hollered once the team had all gathered in the Normandy's briefing room, all at varying stances of attention. All curious, except in the case of Grunt, bored.

"Alright, on the way out of Geth space we intercepted signals that demands an investigation. Show them, EDI." Shepard said and gestured to the holographic display as the Kalin system lit up, one yellow star and six planets. The prime topic of attention being the third planet, dubbed Kalin 3 in the subtext above it.

"We have detected sizable numbers of Geth forces on this planet." the display zoomed in on Kalin 3 and displayed signatures, a geographic map and indications of recent heavy bombardment. "The Geth invaded this planet and have apparently, if all the ruins of the cities dotting the planet are of any indication.. the native species may or have come very close to extinction at the hands of the Geth.

"Keelah.." Tali'Zorah muttered with a grave voice. Another species suffering at the hands of her peoples creations, except this time.. the victims did not seem to possess the technology with which to flee.

"The amount of bombardment deployed extremely heavy. Near nuclear winter as a result. Environment nearing collapse." Mordin noted more to himself than anyone else.. "Survivors?"

"Geth communications are focused around this area, what little data I've managed to decipher indicate the presence of humanoid organics, apparently several individuals are in the center of the local ruins." EDI replied.. pinpointing the location near the east side of the main continent, a large city. The scanner pointed towards what may be an underground shelter. "The number of survivors are unknown, but not anymore than a few." the AI continued.. scanning the surface across the city.. "Warning, Geth formations surrounding survivor cell."

"From these readings, the inhabitants aren't even all that advanced. They have not even invented nuclear fission. An incredibly minor threat, their technology as a whole appear limited, but without studying the planet close up, none of these readings can be confirmed." Miranda read from the data pad she carried..

"Just why did the Geth attack such a lowly advanced species in such an insignificant section of the galaxy? It makes no sense." Tali shared her thoughts, something felt off.

"Maybe they have something the Geth perceive as a potential threat?" the Commander asked, raising an eyebrow.

The resident Salarian promptly responded on the matter.

"Maybe. Doubt it. Highly unlikely."

Shepard stood deep in thought as he ran the situation through his head for a few moments. "Joker, engage stealth as soon as we enter the system, set a direct course for Kalin 3 with all haste."

"Aye, sir." the pilot responded curtly through the intercom.

"EDI, be ready to disrupt Geth communication as soon as we're within range."

"Yes, Commander." the synthetic voice responded.

"Mordin and Grunt will join the ground team to investigate the situation, and initiate contact."

The aforementioned crew members nodded, Grunt struck his fists together in anticipation.

"Tali, Garrus. You will return to your posts and make sure everything runs at full capacity."

He received the prompt acknowledgment from both in order.

"The rest – including the rest of the crew, prepare for worst case scenario, to repel boarders."

Miranda and Taylor nodded in response.. the latter left immediately the inform the rest of the crew.

"Joker, how far?"

"An hour at least at this velocity."

"Alright, everyone must be at their posts within forty-five minutes. Dismissed." Shepard quickly added, allowing the team to filter out of the room to make their preparations.

* * *

Silence filled the bunker, Nagato strolled around alongside Konan to check up on the others. All of them tired, and starved. But they tried to find some comfort regardless.

At the barracks in the lowest section of the complex, Naruto and Hinata tried to relax in a warm embrace in a cold corner, Hinata resting herself against Naruto.. trying to find precious time to weep for all those whom they had lost, but tragically, little time remained for mourning. Naruto was also depressed, but tried to keep the mood up.. or at the very least tell her that it won't be much longer before they'll meet their long-lost friends again.

Kisame remained in a corner a story above, tending to one of his remaining hobbies in this day and age.. caring for his sword as it emitted scratching noise at the bullet wounds it had sustained. And reviewing his past deeds with great melancholy.

Hidan and Tenten stood in a far side of the same room.. pretty much doing the best to keep up the mood by the means of a heated argument while the latter was compiling more tools into her great scroll.

Nagato gazed towards the ceiling as some gravel was released from the surface and landed on the floor in response to far-away disturbances. The time has come. "Hope the old geezer find anything we can use in the battle ahead of us."

"You really believe we have any hope of victory?" Konan asked with a low voice.

"No, though this will be our last stand.. at least we should make it an end they won't soon forget." he replied, gritting his teeth.

More gravel came down, the disturbances increasing. "All gather." he whispered with enough force for his voice to reach every part of the complex.. a message for all survivors to assemble.

Kisame, Hidan and Tenten was the first ones in position, taking their spots in the circle that formed in the middle of the chamber. Naruto and Hinata arrived soon after. The group ended up standing in complete silence as they all directed their attention towards Nagato.

A coughing voice came from the staircase leading further down into the complex as Onoki arrived.. "So it all comes down to this, eh?" the old man asked as he joined the circle. The aging former Tsuchikage of the fallen Iwagakure no sato.

"Did you find anything?" Nagato asked sternly.

"As a matter of fact, I did." he dug a hand into one of his many pockets to pick out a small pouch.. and from it, a number of soldier pills.

Everyone brightened up at the sight.

"No way, where did you find those?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"There's an emergency cache in a hidden vault, it wasn't easy to find." He reached out a hand with one pill for each, one he kept for himself and a couple of more in reserve just in case. "They're quite old though, I expect these things will only last for a few hours at most."

The rest hurried to secure one for themselves, eating each their pill with all haste, feeling some strength returning to their bodies.

"Good, now we can face the doom-bringers with all the strength we got." Nagato announced calmly. His renewed strength allowed him to activate all of his six paths that were in the storage room, all bursting out all at once.

"Now don't you waste your strength on the ceiling, I'll bring it down all over them!" Onoki hollered with some renewed confidence as he prepared for an appropriate Earth style technique.

"Ah, time for a final dance." Kisame snickered, brandishing his blade.

"Just try to keep up with me, you fuckers." Hidan sneered, pulling his scythe up.. the two hurried to the stairs, the central chamber's no place for melee combatants to stand once the big ones let themselves go.

"Hey, that's my line." Tenten groaned and gave Hidan a shove while hoisting her heavy main scroll onto her back.

"Ready when you are, Naruto, Hinata." Konan notified to the two hosts as they started gathering their Chakra, even in such a small group, they still needed to have the big guns brought out. All of the remaining Shinobi preparing themselves for the effort ahead.

* * *

Shepard had made for the shuttle with all haste along with Mordin and Grunt as their ship approached the designated planet.

"I'm currently only having limited success disrupting the Geth. For now I'm focusing on preventing system infiltration and filling their data banks with 'junk' data." EDI summarized in short order.

"We got green across the board, Commander!" Joker announced.

"Alright, begin the assault!" Shepard ordered while the shuttle closed and started up.. awaiting the most opportune moment before deploying.

The Normandy's stealth systems engaged as the FTL ended and approached the planet before them at a speed beyond the capabilities of any other ship its size.  
However, despite the stealth systems active The Geth ships before them began turning towards the approaching Normandy.

"They know we're coming! Garrus, we need those big guns now!" Joker shouted over the intercom as he put all of his focus on maneuvering the ship.

"Target those closest to our position and fire at will!" Shepard quickly gave the orders to both Joker and Garrus.

The Turian complied and waited until the ship pointed towards the first Geth ship on the way and toggled a few commands, activating the Thanix cannon.. firing as soon as the weapon's ready.. a blue trail of superheated molten metal traveling towards the intended target. Under the assault of a weapon that had been created from studying the remains of the Reaper Sovereign, the Geth ship's kinetic barrier collapsed just as quickly as it got impaled by the very trail that struck it a moment before the craft exploded.

"Whoa!" Joker let it slip as he steered the Normandy away from the explosion and continued towards the planet below, he and Garrus worked together to get a firing solution for their next victim.

"New data acquired. Unknown energy signatures detected on the planet, it seem strangely consistent.. but does not appear to be a natural phenomenon, or at least, not to our knowledge." EDI informed the Commander.

"So they do possess something that the Geth want gone after all." Shepard noted.

Mordin accessed the data gathered by EDI and gathered them on his omni-tool for reviewing.. "Astonishing. Never seen anything like it." Mordin breathlessly added, apparently greatly intrigued by such a low tech culture possessing a type of power that galactic civilization haven't discovered yet.

"Open the hatch, we're going in!" Shepard delivered his order to the AI whom quickly responded in due time with the hangar doors opening before the shuttle. With a hum, the little craft left the Normandy and approached the planet below with as much speed that it could muster. Shepard had a feeling that they needed all haste for the effort ahead.

The shuttle dodged and raced past shattered fragments of the second Geth ship that buckled under the force of the upgraded weapons the Normandy carried and headed into the planets atmosphere while avoiding fire. The others back on the Normandy would try to buy them as much time as they can.

The damage across the continent below looked extensive.. massive parts of the landscapes below had been completely ravaged by the Geth invasion, this must have been a truly gruesome event to the natives. "Unwarranted destruction. Nothing to gain from it. Tremendous waste of resources." Mordin noted with a measure of disgust.

Shepard nodded in agreement as he looked upon the remains of what potentially used to be great forests around the city they moved closer to. The whole settlement had been completely reduced to ruins over the course of the war. Shattered ruins covered the land, and what could still – burned in various places across the scene. "There." the commander notified the others as he pointed out what were once the residential areas, devoid of Geth from the looks of it. But safer than the alternative.

The shuttle hatch opened once the vehicle touched down onto the surface, immediately at which the shore party rushed out with weapons ready, fanning out to check if the immediate area's reasonably secure before proceeding.

"See anything?" Shepard asked, surveying the desolate surroundings.

"No, no nothing here." Grunt replied.

"I recommend haste. Survivors can't wait." Mordin suggested as he hurried back to join up with the others.

"According to current data, the targets are located three clicks to the north. I recommend caution however, large numbers of Geth are approaching the target area." EDI's voice spoke through their com-links.

"Move out." Shepard gave the order, and the group hurried on their way.. across rubble and shattered ruins on their way to where they would find the remaining survivor cell, and unknown to either groups.. their encounter are going to yield surprises beyond their wildest dreams.

* * *

And that's it for the first chapter. Though it's the first of many ahead.


	2. Chapter 2

Shepard's group hurried across several ruined streets, but found no Geth along the way. Understandable considering the state of things on this planet, the synthetics tended to be very thorough, he had seen similar things occur wherever the Geth roamed. He kept a mental note on how far they had gone, and were now crossing the fifth street when a loud exclamation from Mordin pulled his and Grunt's attention. "You found something?" he inquired.

"A native. Kalinin we could call them. Dead. Fairly recent victim." The Salarian sighed as he began to scan the body.

Shepard went to stand on the other side of the body.. it was obviously male, an adult. Remarkably similar to Humans in appearance. Bullet wounds covered the body. He assumed this individual died instantaneously. The person appeared to be wearing a flak jacket which contained several primitive weapons and tools. Shepard made the assumption that this might be the natives' battledress. Shepard picked up the discovered weapons and examined them.. mostly knives, and shuriken. "No sign of advanced weapons?" the Commander wondered.

"None." Mordin replied before his scanning tool came up with something unusual.. "Strange. This species possess a second circulatory system. Separate from the other. Detecting faint signs of energy." he continued, sounding perplexed.

A far-away explosion caught their attention before Shepard could ask of what Mordin had just discovered.

"Let's study them _after _we save the survivors!" Shepard switched the topic and urged the others to move when a large cumbersome projectile suddenly vaulted high into the air. It only took a second to see that it's in fact the top of a building, including dirt that flew up along with it. Not an ordinary building in any case, more like a part of a bunker.

"It looks like they've broken up the bunker." Grunt chuckled at the scene.

"Quite. Literally." Mordin whispered as they crossed the current street and ventured across the bridge close by.. the only remaining one along the river that trailed through the city. The bunker top had long since crashed by the time they got halfway there.

"Here's hoping we're not too late." Shepard groaned as he continued to rush forward, the others trailing behind, especially Grunt who paused to look over an Armature that had gotten crushed by the falling debris by pure dumb luck..

"I got a hunch they aren't as helpless as they seem." the Krogan muttered to himself, tightening his grip on the shotgun before quickening his pace again to catch up with the others.

* * *

"A bit much, ain't it?" Konan muttered as she watched the roof vanish into the distance and gradually fell out of view, a small thunder being heard from the large structure hitting the ground.

"The whole world have gone to hell, who cares about going overboard at this point?" Onoki replied gruffly. The others stared at the wide open ceiling in a comical manner..

Hidan sneered as he leaped halfway up the improvised slope, what remained of the upper parts of the structure after the roof's most lifting farewell... too impatient to wait any longer.

Pain's foremost thought was to stop Hidan.. but his attention turned elsewhere.. "Ready?" he asked the youngsters, particularly the Jinchuriki.

"A-almost." Hinata grit her teeth, she was still merely at stage one.. but mustered all three tails. One soldier pill and a short rest aren't nearly enough to regenerate enough Chakra to go all the way. Naruto also held himself at stage one.. but arrived at eight tails before he stopped to join Hidan in one great leap to where he stood, followed by the Hyuga in short order.

"Come on, might as well get this started before our guests lose their patience." Kisame added in before he formed a series of hand signs.. and it wasn't necessary to ask what he had in mind as the jutsu activated and allowed the missing-nin to spew out a vast amount of water that carried him out of the bunker.. the water following at his beck and call.

"He got a point.. all of you, hit them fast and hit them hard, move out!" Nagato called out, all Shinobi present disappearing, each with a puff of smoke.

* * *

Several distant explosions could be heard as they eventually arrived at the location of the bunker only to see a completely unnatural flow of water which not only moved uphill, but also climbed from the ruins below as if it had a mind of its own.. Shepard and the others could hardly believe their own eyes.

The synthetic voice of EDI pierced his communicator.. "Heat signatures vanished."

"Are we too late?" Shepard asked, looking in the general direction of the path where the odd water poured towards.

"... Accepting new scans, heat signatures detected, one click north of your location." EDI stated.

"That quickly? Interesting." Mordin mused.

A massive explosion appeared from the horizon, great enough that the team felt the shock wave coming from it mere moments afterward and bright enough that they covered their eyes just as the flash hit them.

"W-what the?" Shepard exclaimed in surprise. But recovered within seconds, his pace breaking into a run as he began moving in the direction of the explosion.. his comrades quickly following suit.

They crossed the distance between them and the designated Kalinin with all speed .. a full blown battle seemed to be occurring up ahead. The sheer intensity of it made Shepard believe that entire armies are clashing before them just out of sight. The elements seemed out of place, behaving in an absurd manner, fires bending.. water swirling and breaking laws of physics to the left and right. Buildings shattering under great earthquakes. The trail that was left in the wake of the mysterious natives' maddeningly clear.. wrought with destruction, showcasing a force that no longer have anything more to lose, littering the streets with the bodies of Geth in the process. Some had been destroyed in particularly creative ways.

It was then that a platoon of Geth entered their view, bringing their weapons to bare against Shepard's group... and at something unseen. But before they could open fire, countless objects that looked like nothing but paper to the Commander's eyes pierced through the Geth wholesale, cutting down every single one of them in short order, collapsing their barriers and then sliced them apart, in some cases limb by limb.

Confusion had overcome them momentarily at what they just beheld, but Grunt quickly shrugged it off and rushed forward, raising his weapon. "H-hold it.. damn it, back him up!" Shepard barked, and followed the Krogan in turn. Grunt arrived just past the corner and brought his shotgun up and got hit by a flurry of paper pieces that bounced off his kinetic barrier. "Cease fire!" Shepard called out as they joined up, gazing at the native who now stood before them.

Correction, the being hovered before them. The native hovered few feet above ground, and half of her body seemed to be missing. Indeed, the woman before them looked as if she's made of paper entirely. At first, Shepard thought of this as some sort of hologram used to distract enemies until he noticed the woman's genuinely surprised expression as she scrutinized the team before her, especially the Salarian and Krogan.

"W-who are... what are you?" the woman asked with a loud voice, obviously ill at ease.

The woman's voice sounded unintelligible to the Commander at first.. but his translator was fast at work.. which took surprisingly little time deciphering the language she spoke.. it seemed to have much in common with Earth's Japanese language. Shepard held up his hands in caution.. "Don't be alarmed, my name is Commander John Shepard. We just recently found out that you've been under heavy assault from the Geth, we are here to rescue you." he replied, speaking through his communicator, which translated his words to the native in turn.

"Rescue...? Geth? Is that what those monsters are called? No, this must be a trap." Konan spoke, shaking her head as if to clear her head from some form of trickery. The woman pulled away, the paper that made up her form dispersed and vanished into the distance.

"Unsurprising. Near-extinction can foster paranoia among survivors." Mordin concluded by his own observation.

"Follow her, we need to convince them to leave with us." the Commander ordered and they moved to pursue, hoping for better luck with the next encounter.

* * *

"What is it?" Onoki blurted out at Konan while he pulverized another armature with his Atomic dismantling technique from the cover of a half collapsed wall.

"We got strange beings coming up from behind, might be decoys." Konan announced as she hurried past, trying to reach Nagato further ahead.

"Decoys?" the old Tsuchikage muttered as he turned his attention south.. "Never seen them do that." he glared into the distance. "Might as well see it, if it is true." the old man took a few steps.. "I'll just go check it out, if you don't mind, right? ... Right?" he asked, looking in Konan's direction only to see she had already moved on. "Never mind." he muttered to himself.

Once he again turned south, a number of Geth infiltrators appeared from crags in the terrain, rushing towards the elderly man.. "Oh no you don't." Onoki groaned as he formed another set of hand signs in retaliation. But did not even get as far as activating the technique as the Geth came under fire from an unseen force, all shot down in a barrage of projectiles. "Wha- who's there?"

* * *

Shepard and his comrades had shot down another set of Geth along the way, the Kalinin did not appear to be as thorough as the synthetics. An error the Geth tried to use to their advantage as they attempted to strike at them from behind, but not if the Normandy shore party had any say in it. It was when an elderly male's voice called out that Shepard ordered the lowering of his comrades weapons as they stepped out of cover and entered the view of the old man in front.

Surprise was evident, but instead of going away.. his wise eyes looked the arrivals over.. "Too life-like to be decoys and machines.. though I sense no Chakra." the figure muttered in observation.

"I'm Commander John Shepard of the SSV Normandy. Me and my team have come here to rescue you and your people." the Commander announced clearly.

"Pah, should of come over a few months ago when many of our people still lived." the Tsuchikage replied in a harsh manner.. "Got a few young folks with me, but that's it."

"Then tell them to stop fighting and come here, the sooner we can extract you the better." Shepard told him, glad to meet someone who managed to keep his mind straight.

"Urrrh." the old man coughed.. "Can try, but this was meant to be a last-stand, don't know if they'll come." he said as he picked a knife from his pocket and placed a tag on its handle before hurling it up in the air.. As soon as the tags timer ran out, a flare appeared in the sky.

"Might as well invite the Geth to join us with that.." Grunt offered his thought.

"Yes, but maybe they haven't invented technology capable of long range communication yet."

"We do possess such things.. but scarcity of resources leave us little choice." Onoki noted gruffly as he stood and waited until a figure familiar to the old man appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.

This newcomer wore a robe very similar to the one the woman earlier was wearing.. but to Mordin's clearly disturbed expression, his tool informed them that no life-signs could be detected from the this particular being. Its dead and yet it still moved. But Onoki wasn't even fazed as he approached Nagato's Animal Path.

"What is it, Onoki?" the Path asked, its face becoming greatly perplexed at the sight of the group that stood with the Tsuchikage. "What are..."

"Apparently, they want to rescue us..." Onoki replied.

"And where would they rescue us to? The world is no more." The Path replied, unbelieving.

"We have a ship that can travel to other worlds." Shepard informed them simply.. to both natives obvious confusion. "But we need you to hurry up and make a decision. Our comrades up there won't be able to distract the Geth fleet in orbit for long."

The Path seemed even more confused, but looking to and fro the beings that stood with Shepard... he decided that the stranger offered them a window of escape.. and if it could save their lives. Might as well, what did they have to lose?

"Very well... wait here." The Path replied, but did not even budge one inch to the aliens' confusion. The Tsuchikage shrugged and motioned for the team to wait.

...

"Water release: Water shark missile Jutsu!" Kisame hollered, launching the Water style technique at a small number of Geth that just attempted to ambush him. The synthetics tried to evade, but the projectile struck and destroyed them in short order.

He pulled his blade, Samehada, from his back and sought to rip apart an offending machine with it only to have one of Nagato's Paths interrupt him as it suddenly landed besides him.

"What is it?" Kisame asked, once he had disposed of his immediate opponent.

"Stand by for summoning, Kisame." the Path replied as it grabbed hold of Kisame's arm. The Shinobi was puzzled, but decided not to argue.

...

Hidan wasn't far away, hacking and slashing through the ranks of machines in short order, picking down those infiltrators first and foremost, offering the softest target for his scythe. "Take this you fuckers, I got more than enough for everyone!" he announced gleefully, but was brought to a halt from being grabbed from behind.. "What the hell?" he yelled.

"Be quiet, stand by!" Asura Path insisted.

...

A platoon of Armatures suffered their violent defeat as a large number of Kunai suddenly carpeted the area, followed shortly by a series of violent explosions as the tags attached to the weapons detonated.. the machines could not muster a response before they were all gone. Tenten was about to unleash another barrage when Preta Path appeared before her and placed a hand on her left wrist. The girl stopped as she gazed back at the Path in confusion.

...

Two orbs of destruction filled the horizon, and it was impossible not to know where that came from as Hinata and Naruto deployed their respective Bijudama against the formations that had begun to move into the area. The blasts were effective in clearing away most of the nearby forces despite constant reinforcements. Such situations can prove tiring for the Jinchuriki however, especially Hinata, who never sported nearly as much stamina as Naruto, aided by the Kyubi. Not even after she was given the Sanbi. But at the moment when a dozen Armatures got through the devastation and about to unleash their next volley, Deva Path appeared and pulled them both to him with Bansho Ten'in.. grabbing their wrists once they came close enough.

"H-hey, what gives?" Naruto yelled. Hinata only let out a gasp.

...

"Might as well." Nagato notified the still confused Konan as he went closer and took her hand.

...

Animal Path folded its hands and thrust them to the ground. Shepard's perplexed team watched the motions.. and was taken aback as smoke burst out of the ground.

"What was that?" Shepard exclaimed, coughing at the smoke and marveled once it cleared away.. revealing a larger group having appeared before them in an instant. A strange group by all accounts, especially two of the teens that were surrounded by a strange aura, but at a second glimpse, it was nearly gone.

"How in the...?" Grunt began to ask when Nagato interjected.

"Questions later. Time for you to prove that you can offer us the escape we seek." Nagato said, straight to the point.

"Alright, this way." the Human said as he took an immediate turn towards south.. Mordin and Grunt were both quick to follow. But the majority of the native survivors seemed very reluctant to follow, and did so only once Onoki and Nagato urged them onward. The ground rumbling beneath their feat telling clearly of the approach of hostile battle formations. So at the urgings, they did pick up the pace significantly and managed to overtake the Normandy shore party very quickly. The extended group navigated through the ruined city with artillery shells starting to hammer down across the area. The shells were for the most part extremely inaccurate. Having no spotters present due to EDI's earlier interference.

"Joker, what's your status?" he called into his communicator, dialing the Normandy.

"The status is that this sucks, we have sustained minor damage and our ship are close to overheating. I suggest you wrap things up down there fast or we're all done." the helmsman replied summarily.. "Weapons systems are damaged, only operating at half of its capacity. Tali is struggling to keep the reactor stabilized. And EDI's at her limit. She's devoting all of her attention on keeping the Normandy's systems away from the Geth.

So they had to hurry and fast. But fortunately it wasn't far away now. The Kodiak appeared in their sight. "All on board, quick, we don't have much time." Shepard urged the natives onto it.

"Um, where are the animals?" Tenten asked, confused at the prospect of entering a metallic carriage with no wheels nor beasts of burden.

"We don't need that crap." Grunt replied as he shoved her into the shuttle before getting on himself. The limited space within the shuttle got very cramped very quickly.

"Just a moment, make room." Nagato noted as Animal Path made yet another summon.. Naraka Path appearing out of the smoke, carrying a large sack. Which Shepard assumed contained something important. "Now we got everything." Shepard pulled his attention away and closed the shuttle door, and with a jerk, the craft lifted off to most of the occupants' complete surprise and darted towards the skies with all speed.

The natives landed in one large heap. They had never experienced riding anything like this.. "W-what is this?" Naruto asked, completely bewildered as he tried to shove Hidan off him.

"We're f-flying." Hinata spoke softly as she stared through the window, watching as their distance from the surface grew at an alarming speed.

"I can't believe this thing can fly." Konan added in her astonishment. The surface vanishing beneath a thick layer of clouds, and even those were vanishing quickly beneath them as they rapidly approached the outer edge of the atmosphere.

"Joker, we're out. Lock on to our signal and intercept!" the Commander quickly informed.

"Already on it, sir." Joker answered, the Normandy exiting the battle above, leaving behind several shattered wrecks, showing that the ship's crew had been very productive to this point.

Hidan could not help but swear loudly as the larger ship came at them at a speed which could be best described as unsafe.

"Hold on!" Shepard hollered and the shuttle was quickly caught by the Normandy, the Kodiak setting down quite nicely inside the hangar with the help of its mass effect fields.

"Alright, they have gotten on board. EDI, get us out of here, anywhere that ain't here!" the helmsman quickly gave the order.

"Affirmative, stand by for jump." the AI announced on the intercom to the whole crew.

The Geth fleet pursued the lone ship, launching torpedoes, opening fire with all guns at their disposal.. every projectile chasing the Normandy, but thanks to Joker's expertise, all but a few of the shots missed the craft cleanly. But as soon as the third barrage almost reached them, the FTL safely activated and made the ship vanish from the planet's orbit as it safely escaped.

* * *

Although mass effect fields largely make sure that the crew does not feel the acceleration.. a few of the Shinobi came stumbling out of the shuttle, a little dizzy. Hidan managed to stay upright for only a couple of steps before he collapsed... Naruto and Tenten crashed into the floor the moment they got off. The others however managed to keep themselves on their feet. Being the first time on a space ship, it felt a bit overwhelming.

Kisame reached down and helped the two grounded young-nins back on their feet while Hidan was left to pick himself back up.

Shepard moved to the elevator alongside Grunt, practically switching places with those coming out of it. Those people revealed to be Doctor Chakwas and Jacob, both having come down to check up on Shepard and the others.

The Doctor was about to check the shore party, but her attention soon turned to the Kalinin.

And Hidan was less than enthusiastic at the prospect of getting checked up, she brought up a strange glowing tool around her left arm pointed in his general direction and repeated the motions with Naruto, who still relied on Kisame to remain standing. "Alright, all of you to the infirmary."

"I'm fine, just a little dizzy." Naruto groaned, cracking a smile.

"I'll be the judge of that, to the infirmary now!" Chakwas insisted firmly, gesturing for Taylor and Mordin to help the newcomers to the elevator and up.

The contraption itself felt painfully slow, and nearly tortured a few of them, Tenten in particular disliked the damn thing. "Can't this piece of junk go any faster?" she angrily asked. It was her as well as the others first time on an elevator, and so far it did not impress them. Only Onoki seemed fine with it.

"How can you stand this, old fart?" Kisame whispered incredulously, crouching down to the same height as the old man. A feat that took some doing.

"Be a good example, you brute. We're in a completely new environment that we know next to nothing about. Impatience could kill you." Onoki replied calmly.

After what felt like a really long time, the group were ushered out and lead to the infirmary a short distance away while curious crew members watched the newcomers.. "Those the new aliens? Looks pretty Human to me." one of them asked only to receive Kisame's attention.

"And what the hell are you looking at, runt?" he growled menacingly at the stares he had to endure before following the rest of the group, grumbling in annoyance.

* * *

"Great, we got more aliens. And one of them happen to be Jaws, nicely done!" Joker chuckled at the sudden population expansion on board the ship.

"There's nothing to joke about it, Joker." the Commander replied sternly.. "They're the last of their kind."

"Fine, don't bite the jokers head off. I got it." the helmsman replied in an apologetic manner. "So what will our next destination be?"

"Illium for starters. The needs of the Kalinin require that we go to the Citadel immediately.. but I have a feeling that they will need to get used to the current situation first before we subject them to further-"

"Not so fast Commander, once this jump's complete. We need to halt and bring the heat radiation gear on line. Push her any harder now and we'll be in trouble." Tali interrupted them through the intercom.

"Thank you for the heads up. We'll be at the relay in just a couple of hours." Joker replied accordingly.

Shepard nodded.. "Carry on." before he turned, heading back to the elevator. Deciding that it was time to go and get some rest.

* * *

Garrus was heading out to take a break. As much as he enjoyed working, he could not go about pushing himself too hard. If there's nothing more to do at the moment, there would be nothing more till later.

"Hmm?" he hummed as he got to the break room that was smothered right between the infirmary, Lawson's office and the gun controls behind him. His attention diverted to the windows that allowed onlookers to peer into the infirmary where those Kalinin all sat at the moment, subjected to various tests to make sure they are all in good health. Some took it well, understanding doctor Chakwas' intention for what it is. However, one appeared to be in a particularly foul mood. The Doctor focused her attention on Hidan because of the visibly sewn cuts. They looked severe, but not recent in any case.

"Get the hell off me already, I feel fine!" Hidan shouted at her and came only a few inches from forcing the Doctor away with a full force shove if it wasn't for Naruto restraining him.

"Calm down, man! She's not going to harm you!" Nagato berated him.

"You calm down! There is nothing wrong with me!" Hidan replied hotly.

"Of course, there's only a couple hundred screws loose in you're head." Kisame chuckled, not helping the situation at all. Tenten, Hinata and Konan were mostly doing spectator work, watching the whole situation as it developed. Onoki had fallen asleep in the corner of the room on a bed. He had been confirmed to be at good health despite his very advanced age, and decided to take his first nap in days of almost constant work and fighting.

However the efforts to calm Hidan down proved fruitless, he fumed even more from Kisame's comment. "Get the hell off me!" he told Naruto in a fit of anger.

"No, not until you calm down!" he protested.

Garrus watched the man's unreasonable anger issues with disgust, and was about to walk away when he suddenly found Hidan staring back at him. "What the hell are you staring at, ugly fuck?" Hidan roared as he struck the window, which cracked from the impact and sent fragments through the neighboring chamber. The Turian stepped away as it occurred. The windows were made from armored glass.. He couldn't believe someone could actually damage it with just his bare hands, and yet this one did.

Chakwas was about to bring a strong sedative when the man struck the window panel with such force and gasped at what had just happened. Hinata got on her feet and hurried to the doctor, took the sedative and rushed over to Hidan. And before he could react to her presence, she had pierced the syringe into the base of his neck and emptied its tranquillizing contents into his body.

The man quickly began to sway dangerously where he sat as the drugs began to work.. "The... bi..." he muttered before he fell off the bed and hit the deck. Hinata paused for a moment before she knelt down and checked on him.. the Doctor had brought her strongest sedative, and it did not disappoint.

Chakwas finally managed to gather herself by that time and instructed the teens to lift the man back onto the bed so she could do a more thorough scan of his scars. 'Such physical strength. Is it common to all Kalinin?' the Doctor thought to herself, hoping that there would be no similar violent episodes from now on. She looked up at Garrus, who still stood outside in a temporary state of shock.. but he was starting to come to, after which he would leave for his break as he originally planned.

Eventually, most of the Shinobi got the permission to leave, the examination complete. They were allowed to move around in the crew's quarters. Plenty beds stood available for them to use that weren't already occupied by the regular crew of the ship. With that gesture, the only ones who remained in the infirmary but herself, Hidan and Onoki. She brought the scanner on line and started probing Hidan. At first she only wanted to take a closer look at those scars. And what she saw, horrified her. The scars circled around his entire body in several places, and had been sewn shut quite thoroughly for the string to be this visible. The scanner provided his internal biometry.. the scars encompassed several internal injuries as well to her horror, including his organs and even the skeleton. "What in the world happened to him?" Chakwas whispered in disbelief... it was as if the man had been blown to pieces and then sewn back together. Though it wasn't the only abnormality she found. The scanner revealed the second circulatory system he possessed, her instruments detecting some form of unknown energy moving through it. She accessed and read the quick report Mordin provided her with, but she never imagined it would be this extensive. These veins were barely a fraction of the size of blood veins. And coiled all around the body and around organs instead of forming any actual connection. She appeared to be completely at a loss at what kind of function this system actually performed. She'd have to inquire later, but for now:

She keyed the intercom and linked to the ship's lab. "Mordin, it's Chakwas."

"Yes? What?" she heard the Salarian ask, apparently busy.

"I need you to get down here, better take a look at this." she gasped as the energy in Hidan's system began to pulse.. the man already showing signs of waking up. The sedative about to expire. 'Already?' She closed the link after getting confirmation from Mordin and called for guards to restrain the patient. "Hurry."


	3. Chapter 3

He opened his eyes, forced awake by the numbness of his body... as if he finally had managed to wake up from a very deep sleep. Which wasn't far from the truth. Hidan's vision however, was instantly filled with the view of a pair of assault rifles pointed directly at him. The man had seen enough of the killing power of such weapons at the hands of the machines, so even Hidan froze. He did not feel comfortable with the stability of his immortality, the latest sacrifice happened too long ago for comfort. "Wha- the... come on, enough already!" too bad he's too stupid to keep his mouth shut.

"For what it's worth, mister. I apologize for the inconvenience." Chakwas told him with noticeable remorse as she injected another dose of sedative into his veins via his neck.

"Con-found it.." The man cursed as he lost consciousness again.

"At ease, men." the Doctor told the guards, them nodding in response before filing out of the room. Telling her to call them again if necessary. Mordin finally arrived right after they left.. His eyes quick to focus on Hidan lying on the closest bed.

"Doctor, you didn't..." Mordin wanted to berate the doctor... questioning the ethics at work here.

"He's not dead." she assured him.. "Look at these scans. You sent me a report concerning the Kalinin. Particularly about their secondary circulatory system."

"Yes. Why?" The Salarian asked as he checked the nearby scanner to examine Hidan's telemetry.

"It doesn't have any detectable function, as far as I can discern. It just... simply coils throughout the body. But the most important thing about this is the sheer amount of energy traveling through this system. It is the same type of energy that you found traces of on the corpse you briefly examined during the latest mission. But here, it is actively coursing through his body and more interestingly, it flared up in activity the moment he started to wake up. See here for the recording." Chakwas informed him with such a focus that she nearly forgot to breathe.

Mordin looked at the other screen, showing the energy readings from Hidan waking moments. The Professor could not help but feel deeply curious about finding out exactly what it is for. For now it seemed to be an important component, similar in a manner to blood. But at the moment it's nothing but theory and a pile of speculations.

"He also inflicted that amount of damage on the window panel, and I can't help but think that this energy has something to do with it." She continued, pointing at the heavily damaged section of the infirmary, Mordin winced when he first took note of it.  
"Maybe we should plant a couple of probes on him to monitor the effects of the system during his activities." Chakwas suggested.

Mordin let out an audible sigh.. it was true, his morals spoke against it. But ultimately his scientific curiosity won out.. if only with a compromise. That she would remove the devices at the slightest hint of inconvenience.

* * *

A minor surgery was quickly performed and finished. They decided on two small probes that would be planted directly beneath his skin.. they were small, so the bumps wouldn't be visible. One was planted on his right arm while the other was placed on the left side of his waist. Mordin prayed for it to be worth it and hoped for results quickly so that this experiment could end. Mordin left the infirmary once it was completed and headed back to his lab to continue the work he was supposed to do, finding a way to counter Collector seeker swarms.

But unknown to them, a well concealed probe was located nearby. Being connected to Lawson's office, it allowed Miranda to eavesdrop on the conversation. However, she did not have any intentions of telling Shepard about it. The agent listed the current information concerning the Kalinin in her next report to the Illusive man, knowing that he'll find it very interesting. Miranda carried high hopes about this strange feature of the newly discovered species. From the details of Chakwas' examinations, plus the damage to the window panel that Hidan caused. If it was in any way related to biotics, then the Kalinin could be the prime candidates for further study for the sake of Cerberus' ambition.

* * *

Hidan sputtered rock.. And he had nothing to watch but rocks and worms since that Nara brat sealed him so damn far below the surface, kept in place by tons upon tons of rocks, stones and more rocks. He's sick and tired of rocks. He'd give his right leg for a good dango, not that any of them were attached at the moment. The man successfully laughed at his own misfortune, though it hurt like hell. His latest pastime these last... however the hell long he's been down here for... were composed entirely of counting the amount of cracks in the rocks before his eyes, and had long ago gotten used to the notion of getting dust on his eyes in his veritable staring contest with the dirt and stones above him that looked as if they were getting ready to smash his head in. Dust on his brains.. that would have been be the day. Most of his body's covered in dust and dirt already as it is.

'What was that?' He thought, trying to glare upwards, what sounded like digging noises arrived at his ears... or the countryside had just decided to grow wings and fly away. Either way, he almost saw daylight above him. It was absolutely glorious to once again feel the sun. But once the view to the sky became clear, a face suddenly appeared above and blocked the sunlight. The man felt the desire to yell for his savior to move out of the way. But that's when he recognized the person.. "Pain! Nice of ya to drop in!" Hidan hollered with what he had left. Until he felt the ground across the area begin to lift off all around him.

"Hidan, get back up. We don't have much time." The Pain above him spoke with a sense of urgency.

"Ugh, lest you haven't noticed, I'm barely anything more than a talking head!" the man told him the bloodily obvious detail of his situation.

He heard Pain sigh.. and gradually managed to pull up more pieces of Hidan's body from the rubble before picking up his head by the hair. "We leave now!"

But before Hidan could shout back at the recognizable pain, he shot up from bed and hit his head into something hard. Upon looking around, it appeared that he's no longer in the infirmary, but in the crew's quarter, lying on the lower part of a bunk bed. "For crying out loud."

"Be quiet." Konan hissed at him, not even for a second removing her attention from the table on the opposite side of the room. On top stood one lone candle light, burning weakly but defiantly against the dim light of the quarters. Naruto, Hinata and Tenten currently in the process of going through a time of mourning.. holding each others hands as they stared at the candle light as if trying to see those whom had fallen and trying to see the future. Like those before them, they had sworn to protect the Leaf village and it's children, their future generations. And they felt as though they have betrayed that very oath and their promises to their comrades. They switched between complete silence and talking quietly about their friends and all others they knew by name. Ever since the war began, there were never enough time to conduct proper funerals. Bodies were more often than not left lying where they died.

The rest of the group appeared mostly rootless, most which had betrayed their former friends and comrades in arms, their very villages for their own agendas, dreams and ambitions. They severed all ties and though they did mourn the fall of their world... they kept that sorrow deep within. But a few, like Nagato and Konan sympathized. "Sure is gloomy in here." Onoki whispered with a grim voice as he came through the door, finding himself a lone chair on which to sit.

"It can't be helped. There's no temple around to pray at." Kisame replied.. to which the Tsuchikage reluctantly nodded to.

Hidan would offer his take on it, but before he could, Kisame stood up and grabbed the man by his neck and dragged him out of the room. "Huh? Wait!" he groaned lazily before the door closed shut behind them.

* * *

"There is always a time to talk, and a time to shut the fuck up. How many times do we have to tell you before it sinks past your thick skull." Kisame hit Hidan's head as he berated him like one would towards a rude kid.

"Gah, enough already. I've been chewed out ever since I got dug back up from my grave." Hidan argued in retaliation.

"It is in times such as this that I wish that Kakuzu was still alive.. at least he could handle your temper."

"But he's long dead, got his ass kicked hard I heard. By the Nine tails brat!" Hidan replied, gesturing at the door, and in the general direction of Naruto.

Kisame grew tired of this.. quietly wishing that Konan had pulled her ass off her chair to drag Hidan out of the room herself. It would certainly have meant less hassle for him. "Whatever, let's take a real look around this so-called ship."

* * *

Shepard had just gotten back up, managing to claim a full 'night' of forty winks. He put on his on-duty uniform on, and brushed his teeth at the restroom. Taking a moment to feed the fish in his aquarium, looked over his various models of space craft and lastly read through recent reports. The heat radiation gear removed excess heat without a hitch, according to Tali. And Joker – or rather – EDI reported in that they've gone through the scheduled relay and... promptly went through again to different coordinates. They'd be at Illium within a day or two.

Shepard smiled at the lot of good news and brought up the files concerning the evacuated Kalinin survivors. The man with the odd eyes stated "Questions later" back on Kalin 3.. It seemed that time's right for a thorough interview about their people and the war in question that resulted in said planet's devastation and their near extinction. So far, he avoided from pressing them for information to allow them to adjust to their new surroundings.  
He tapped into the on board cameras to see where they are. Most of them located within the crew's quarter. It seemed deathly silent for the time being.. it almost looked like an improvised ceremony. He shook his head as he decided on leaving them alone for a little while longer. However, two appeared to be missing. Shepard checked through a series of security cameras until he located them just outside engineering, seemingly about to head in... probably out of curiosity. He'd have to notify the guards just in case.. but Grunt, Tali and Jack are currently down there... so maybe the guards won't be needed.

* * *

Kisame approached the door in the same manner that everyone else seemed to be doing with the entrances on board. The lack of doorknobs unnerved him, feeling a great lack of control towards his surroundings. For a small moment he wondered how the crew could handle this so casually.

"What, daydreaming are we?" Hidan coughed up a laugh.

Kisame growled and stepped on through, only to see yet another door. The man shook his head before venturing to brave himself past it. Hidan on the other hand headed straight down the stairs next to them. "Have fun with the door, I'll be down here." Hidan snickered.

"Yeah, do that." he answered as he passed through the door and took in the immediate surroundings. There weren't a whole lot of people, two in front and one who certainly did not look like the others.. what was the word, Alien? "What is this place?" Kisame strode past the first engineers while he looked about in slight interest.

"Bloody hell, look how tall he is." Kenneth gasped once she became aware of the newcomer having walked past them.

"What, jealous?" Gabby asked humorously.

He ignored the small conversation coming from the engineers, though he could not help but crack a grin, and promptly repeated his queston. "What is this place?"

But before any of the others present could answer.. EDI appeared on a nearby holo panel.. "This is engineering, what you see before you is the ship's Tantalus Drive Core, which generates mass concentrations that allow the ship to move without the use of heat-emitting thrusters. It also allows faster than light travel."

"Thank you, more information than I understand.. but thank you." Kisame replied flatly. "Now then, what the heck are you?" he asked... it's the first time he's talking to an inanimate object.

"She's the ship's on board AI." Tali near snorted her reply, evidently she did not think too highly of it.

"... What's an AI?" Kisame pressed in for an answer, turning towards the Quarian, tilting his head in puzzlement.

"Artificial Intelligence. A program, construct that can imitate organic behavior." She responded.

"Simplified version?" The Shinobi asked, still confused.

Tali shrugged.. "I'm probably over-simplifying it already."

"Point taken." Kisame muttered as he moved past her. It was just then in that awkward silence that they all noticed the amount of noise coming from downstairs.

"You having trouble down there, Jack?" The Quarian gently asked, communicating with the convict through the intercom.

"I got a fucking idiot down here, what do you think?" Jack responded harshly.. with Hidan's voice cutting in just the moment the Quarian decided to cut the line.

"A profanity contest, great." Kisame muttered, finding the prospect of two troublesome and foul-mouthed individuals quite irritating. But on the other hand, they could probably hose each others down.

"Seems that way. You should probably stop your friend before he's hurt." Tali suggested.

"He's no friend of mine, just a comrade in arms. Hidan can take care of himself, if we're lucky, they'll knock each others out cold." the man replied before he left Engineering, heading back to the elevator.

After he left the room, a word begged to be said:

"We got some crazy people on board, does Shepard get them all from the same store?" Kenneth asked Gabby, who simply shrugged.

* * *

Nagato considered sitting at the table with the young-nins as they continued reminiscing about their fallen friends. His attention wandering to the sack he secured through Naraka Path, containing artifacts that had to be kept safe, lest people of the unsavory kind claimed it. Least of all the machines.

He had already admitted it to himself: Yahiko, Jirayia and Konan remained the only ones he had any connection to, and of them, only Konan remained. He finished spending his tears on that loss long ago. But he knew how they felt, so he sat down next to them.. offering comforting words. Konan followed suit, sitting on the other side while the Tsuchikage merely watched. He was not about to coddle a few brats just because they felt sad. It's painful enough just to watch.

But something drew away Onoki's attention as the door opened, allowing Shepard to step in.. "Sorry to bother you, but I have questions that needs answering. We will soon arrive at Illium, and would like to get to know you better before we arrive."

Nagato stood up slowly. The man was about to volunteer for the talks when he suddenly got cut off.

"Absolutely not, I will go." Onoki turned him down quickly, standing up to his full height.. which wasn't much.

The two maintained eye contact for a heated moment before Nagato conceded.. "Do as you like." sitting back down while the young-nin merely watched. Mildly perplexed.

Shepard blinked at the friction that occurred.. but, "Alright, come with me to the briefing room." he informed the old man before they went to the elevator.

Onoki stood a bit hunched over in the elevator as it began to move.. warily keeping an eye on the Human standing next to him, who appeared to be simply staring at the wall while waiting. Eventually the door opened to reveal the CIS, the place from which Shepard probably commanded the ship and its crew... his eyes resting on the hovering galactic map with a hint of awe before he shook it off and followed the Commander through another set of doors, the ships lab located on the other side. Being the workplace in which the ship's lone Salarian continued to work ceaselessly. "Mordin, the meeting's about to start." Shepard informed him.

"Yes. In a moment." Mordin replied promptly, looking over some more data as he continued to work.

"This way." Shepard told Onoki and led him through yet another set of doors until the briefing room opened up before them. A table stood in the middle of the room, long with a few chairs that had been brought for the purpose of this meeting. Miranda Lawson sitting on the chair to the left, who was quick to look up to greet them accordingly. Mordin arrived a moment after Onoki found himself a chair to sit down on. The others positioned on the opposite side of the table.  
"Alright, this meeting is primarily for the purpose of deducing the reason behind the Geth's invasion of your world. So I would like your full cooperation to help shed some light to that end."

"Hmpf, I will assist as far as I'm able." Onoki replied gruffly.

"But first, we would like to know the names of you and your comrades." Miranda interjected.

"I suppose." the old man replied.. "I am called Onoki, I am, or more correctly former Sandaime Tsuchikage of Iwagakure."

"What of your comrades?"

"Could have asked them yourselves, but fine. Won't go into detail so pay attention. Red haired man with odd eyes, Nagato. Blue haired grown woman, Konan. Yellow haired boy, seventeen years of age, Naruto Uzumaki. Same age, a girl with long dark blue hair and pupil-less eyes, Hinata Hyuga. Kisame Hoshigaki.. He's blue, you can't miss him. Silver haired maniac, Hidan. A girl with brown eyes and likewise hair, long and gathered in a chignon; Tenten." the old man barely described anything other than small details.

"What about the other six?"

"Those are just Nagato's puppets."

Mordin looked quite perplexed at the manner in which Onoki referred to them.

"You guys holding up well?" Shepard asked after a pause.

The old man shrugged.. "Can't exactly get much worse."

"You faced a full Geth invasion and lost almost everything." Shepard muttered slowly, more of a statement. "It must have been hard.. how long ago was it the invasion began? A week or more?"

Mordin began to respond with some skepticism at the guess.. but then Onoki answered; "A year."

That was unexpected to say the least. "Can't be. A war like that could not possibly last for such a long time."

"For all their overwhelming technological advantage, they only engaged in borderline conventional warfare. Assaults with organized waves of metal, there were too many of them. But we managed to avoid wholesale slaughter by not allowing ourselves to be bound by their terms of engagement." The old man outlined it.. "We have our own way of doing things. Ancestors of a thousand years ago would have considered it as paranormal warfare."

"That could explain the phenomenon we encountered." Shepard murmured to himself as he thought back on the strange things he witnessed back on Kalin 3.

"Does it have anything to do with the strange energy network within your bodies?" Miranda asked quickly, much to the Salarian's apparent surprise.

"Curious. How did you-"

"You're not the only one with secrets." Miranda replied, much to Onoki annoyance.

"Hold on, what does that circulatory system have to do with what we saw down there?" Shepard asked. His gaze momentarily focused on Miranda as if trying to drag out whatever other information she possess on the topic at hand.

"Chakra." Onoki noted, catching the attention of all three at once. "The network as you call it, are more formally known to us as the Chakra pathway system." he continued.. "It basically a system of veins that transfer and channel Chakra."

"What is Chakra, exactly?"

"Energy. It is composed of Physical energy present in every cell of the body, and spiritual energy which is gained from exercise and experience. Mixed together, it becomes Chakra. It is essential to even the most basic type of Jutsu."

"Fascinating. Can you clarify?" Mordin asked.

"Techniques. Mystical arts used mostly by Shinobi, though there are others. I don't care to go into the long night explaining about every detail of it however."

Miranda wanted to press for more.. but with Shepard present. "Fair enough. What are Shinobi?"

"Basically, a nation's primary fighting force. We used to have Samurai, but they've fallen out of use in most places of the world. Most Shinobi are born, raised and trained in the Hidden villages. Though there are exceptions." Onoki explained.. including a tone of disgust when he mentioned the last part.

"Born, raised and trained to fight. You are painting an image of a militarized society."

"Heh, most of our culture is. But the Hidden Villages especially. They are essentially factories used to produce Shinobi, fighters with combat abilities far above the norm. A newly graduated Shinobi, regularly at thirteen years of age, are more often than not superior combatants to conventional Samurai."

"Child soldiers?" Shepard asked, letting slight disgust paint his voice.

"Regarded as adults upon graduation." Onoki noted, though it'd probably take much more than that for Shepard to be able to wrap the idea around his head.

"Well, that does kind of explain why the war lasted this long." Miranda shot in gently. "And it may explains why the Geth attacked."

Miranda paused for a few seconds before she continued.. "Now that we got an image of the world you lived in.. What of your world's history? I for one would like to know how you came to develop such abilities."

Onoki coughed a chuckle.. "I'm not particularly interested to go deep into it. It's mostly irrelevant now isn't it?" - "But if you absolutely insist, you should probably go ask around. They may not be any more enthused than I am at this time. Nagato likes telling stories though. Especially about a particular legend... but I'm not really a believer."

"Curious though." Onoki added as he got off his chair. "The war could potentially had gone our way. Call me an optimist. But despite all of our efforts to hide and protect the people of our world. Those cursed machines always managed to find us, somehow."

"That's probably the fault of the Chakra pathway system." Shepard told him.. "You and your people gives off a pretty huge heat signature compared to other species, not to mention the energy signature that makes you even easier to see. That's how we found you."

The old man looked down at the floor, deeply alarmed by the newsflash.. "That explains it. I honestly did not believe those damned machines could sense things like that. I believed only sensory type Shinobi could detect Chakra in such a manner."

"Wrong on all counts." Miranda whispered.

He shook his head gravely.. "Damn it... I need to get back down to the others. I have to let them know."

"Alright. We can continue this later. We'll be arriving at Illium relatively soon." Shepard noted as he closed the meeting with that gesture.

"Yes, sir! We are about to enter Illium's atmosphere." Joker announced through the speakers.

"Joker!" Shepard asked in a stern manner at the helmsman's eavesdropping, receiving a rapt confirmation in the process. With a sigh, the man exited the room. Mordin followed shortly, sparing a glance at the Tsuchikage before leaving. Onoki himself left once he had gotten off the chair after a moment of thought.

Miranda however compiled all the information that she had found and heard. This and the results from scanning Hidan's chakra. She would also make sure to ask one of the Kalinin about their history.. Nagato, the old man made sure to tell them about. Maybe the legend he referred to as well. The Illusive man was sure to be interested in these findings. Of that, she harbored no doubt.


	4. Chapter 4

The Normandy shuddered as it entered Illium's atmosphere as its mass effect fields stabilized, allowing them to descend to the city below; Nos Astra. Most of the crew were used to this routine. But the Shinobi grew restless, it's their first experience of atmospheric entry after all. Especially the young-nins were disturbed with their senses being in better condition than those of the older ones in their company.

Nagato and Konan brought Naruto, Hinata and Tenten over to the official middle of the ship, the mess hall, since the motions of the ship would be less noticeable from there. An old tip for those getting seasick.

"It feels like we're falling a long way down." Naruto groaned as he sat down on the first chair he managed to get to. His left hand held fast by Hinata, She seemed even more nervous than the boy.. her Byakugan had been activated for a moment as she tried to see what was outside the ship.. but with the view consisting of little but air and faint signs of the surface so very far below, she quickly turned it off and moved to sit closer to Naruto.

"For how much longer?" she asked him.. But Rupert interjected immediately, standing at attention a little further away.

"What, scared? It'll only last for a few minutes."

"Easy for you to say, it's our first time." Tenten replied hotly towards the ship's chef, her jaw rattling as the experience took its toll on the young Shinobi.

"I'm rather fine with it though." Kisame noted with glee as he joined them. "Feels like being out at sea."

"Where's Hidan?" Naruto asked out of curiosity.

"He's down in engineering.. having an argument with a noisy woman, violent if what those engineers down there are to be believed." Kisame yawned in response. "How about the old geezer?"

"Upstairs in a meeting." Nagato shot in. He will probably come down as soon as it's finished.

"I n-never imagined even in my wildest dreams, that we'll be taking our first steps onto an alien world.." Hinata said with a shaking voice.. "You think they'll let us out to see it?"

"Don't know, we can't stay here forever in any case." Nagato replied, his eyes noticeably twitching upon the thought of it. What do we know about this world in any case?

An orb suddenly appeared above the table to the surprise of everyone present other than Kisame.. "Oh, it's that EDI... AI thing."

Ignoring the missing-nin, the AI responded; "Illium is located in the Tesale system in the Crescent Nebula. It is a world that has been developed into an entreport between the Asari Republic and the Terminus systems."

"A place for commerce, then?" Konan asked, intrigued.

"Yes, but Illium is infamous for it's abusive labor practices and legalization of nearly everything but murder."

"Sounds like a swell place to me." Hidan snickered as he suddenly arrived.. Looking like he had just been through one hell of a storm, but unnervingly happy still. "Good place for me to acquire some sacrifices in the name of Jashin."

"Everything, but murder." Naruto practically spelled out to him regarding what the AI just told them.. He did not understand most of what had been said, but that part was clear as day.

"I was hoping that you would stay down there for a little bit longer." Kisame growled in irritation.

"Yeah, me and that chick down there are off to a beautiful friendship!" Hidan laughed.. the others looked as if they just heard something terrible beyond comprehension.

"I'm going to pretend I did not hear that." Kisame mumbled.

* * *

Onoki arrived at the elevator and looked at where the Commander stood in front of the galactic map, issuing orders to the crew. Miranda stepped closer to Shepard and then stopped to wait. Another woman stood at her station not far from him. Apparently a secretary of sorts.

"We got Cerberus personnel on the way, they will be waiting in the docking area to repair the Normandy. Jacob will link up with them and get the job done." Miranda delivered what she had to say.

"Alright." Shepard connected to engineering.. "Tali, report to the command deck immediately." he issued the order and turned to Miranda.. "We'll be going out to get some business done. Miranda, you will too."

"I request that you allow us to go see this world for ourselves." the elderly voice of Onoki came up. Unknowingly seconding the feelings of every Shinobi on board.

"No, not now." Shepard turned and refused. The Tsuchikage's eyes narrowed irritably.

"What, are we prisoners?"

"Not at all, Onoki. This world is not safe for sightseeing. Especially for people who have never been to such places." the Commander replied carefully.

Miranda stepped in, seeing an opportunity. "Sir, with respect. We should allow them the chance to familiarize themselves with the dangers of the galaxy. Or at least allow one of them to join us. Would that be satisfactory, Onoki?" she gestured to the elderly.

"An acceptable compromise if nothing else." The Tsuchikage nodded slowly.

"Alright, just one of you.. I don't want to lose sight of any of you, for safety's sake" Shepard conceded reluctantly.

Miranda brightened up.. the demonstration was in order. But this could potentially give her an ideal chance to observe a Kalinin in a combat situation should any occur. She watched the old man walk into the elevator, going down to join the others.

Within moments of coming down, and explaining the details of the meeting as well as the implications of their chakra being traceable so easily.. the latter which disturbed everyone present, except for Hidan, of course.

But then Onoki revealed that Shepard would allow at one of them to join the shore party. Rupert helped them out to quickly settle on which one would be allowed to go. A collection of straws of various length in his palm reached to the aliens. "Pick one each."

"No Byakugan, Hinata." Konan scolded the girl as she tried to sneakily activate it to the chef's confusion. Then they all picked and drew one each, retreated into a circle and folded their straws against each others gracefully.

"Yes!" a cheer could be heard in joy. Tenten succeeded in drawing the longest straw. "I won!"

"Get us some souvenirs while you're outside then at the very least!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Make sure you get a few artifacts as well." Nagato told her.

"Um, isn't that exactly the same thing?" Hinata asked, holding back a giggle.

"I'll follow her up." Konan told the rest as she escorted the eager girl to the elevator.

"I'm so excited!"I will be the first of our kind to step onto an alien world!" Tenten spoke up with a wide smile.

"Just be careful, be aware of your surroundings." the woman told the younger Shinobi as she pressed a button to make it move to the floor above.. 'Odd contraption.' she thought. It would take a long time getting used to the limited amount of space.

"Yeah, I know. I'll try getting something nice."

"Yes, but keep in mind what we said. Get some artifacts if you can. Stuff that could prove useful to us. Weapons, tools and so on. We need to learn more about these worlds beyond our own."

"I understand, Konan." the girl replied.. standing in a little more rigid manner.

"All in all, I'm glad you're the one to go out first.. you can take and conceal what you find within your scrolls. Keep them close." Konan continued, placing a palm on her head reassuringly.

"I always keep it close, you know. Tenten noted just as the elevator door opened again, allowing them to move on. Shepard stood ready in full armor on the far side, next to the cockpit along with Tali and Miranda, waiting for them.

The Commander turned from the others as the two approached. "Are you the one to join us?" he asked, gesturing to Konan. The man seemed relatively relieved. _Oh boy_.

The woman simply shook her head as she encouraged the younger girl to step forward. "Her name is Tenten, she'll be joining your shore party." Konan clarified. Tenten briefly bowed down politely.

"B-but, she's a teenager!" Shepard replied, suddenly ill at ease. Only forcefully reminding himself of what Onoki said back during their meeting.

At that, Tenten stopped being polite as she took a full step closer to the Human.. "What's the problem? Even though I'm not nearly as developed as they are does not mean I can't take what they can." she told him right to the face, all while gesturing to Tali and Miranda. The comment made every female within earshot snicker in response.

Shepard emitted a low groan. He got the point. No use treating Tenten like a child. But he said nothing, instead he merely turned back to the airlock, which opened as he approached it, a second door opening just beyond it. A number of Cerberus personnel funneled through the opened entrance. A few of those mobilized to repair the ship. Several remained outside, working on the hull under Jacob's guidance. The Commander led his team out of the ship, the girl following once she had had a few more words with Konan. Kelly also came over and provided the girl with a miniature translation device, with which to help her converse with people of other species. A wise move, most people in the galaxy only know their mother tongues. And every race have their own broad panoply of languages and dialects. Machine translation are so commonplace that it's taken for granted, Shepard mentally told himself to have the rest of the Kalinin equipped with similar devices.

The group quickly began moving over to the nearest checkpoint.

Tenten felt dizzy the first moment she stepped off the ship and took in the first breath of a different atmosphere.. the air felt somewhat clean, though not even remotely to the clean air Konoha once enjoyed. But in stark contrast, she stared in awe at the sheer scale of this massive city, with all of its hustle and bustle. A big moment that the girl tried to savor all at once. The first time she saw the long lines of hundreds of flying vehicles, she became speechless. It took some pulling from Tali to make her focus and keep up with the others.

Shepard was greeted by an 'associate' along the way whom seemed to be working under someone the Commander appeared to be familiar with. The machines flanking it however made the kunoichi extremely uncomfortable. Every fiber of her body screamed for her to attack and slay the things before they act.

"She's not going to be a problem, is she?" The being, belonging to the Asari species, as Miranda explained to her afterward... a single gender species made out of women.. and no men. She could not imagine living without men. It sounded so boring.

Shepard motioned for Tenten to calm down. "No. She don't like mechs much." he explained shortly.

"My apologies." the Asari said and left.. The mechs following suit.

The girl lightened up somewhat in relief once the machines had moved out of sight, but remained somewhat wary.

The Commander shook his head at Tenten for her hostility, although he understood why she felt that way. They continued on their round and soon entered an area where a great variety of beings worked on stock markets. Tenten gazed at the variety of aliens present; short round Volus, tall stylish Asari, huge Elcor, Humans, thin armored avian-looking Turian... and the occasional hulking Krogan. Shepard stopped to talk to an Asari along the way that gestured for him to come over before she gave an incredibly unsettling message on behalf of something called "Rachni". Shepard seemed upset at first, but his demeanor softened shortly as the discussion continued, and they eventually parted.

Shepard's first course of business appeared to go and meet up with an Asari by the name of Liara T'soni.. the one who the Asari earlier worked under. However, halfway there, Tenten drew her attention elsewhere and took a different turn. The girl found a set of stairs going downwards into a lower portion of the merchant district where there seemed to be a number of merchants selling weaponry. Intrigued, the kunoichi went down there and took a look at what's for sale. The first stand had a number of assault rifles. She had seen the effectiveness of similar weaponry used by the Geth, the memory of them being used to butcher those of her kind still fresh on her mind, a thought that sent a shiver down her spine.

"Hey, shoo little girl." the merchant of that stand hollered rudely as he tried to make her go away. She only grudgingly walked over to the next stand and gazed at an even greater weapon; Something which the price tag described as a M-76 Revenant. And upon seeing it, she was reminded by Nagato's instructions concerning the retrieval of artifacts. The girl muttered quietly at the lack of money on her part. So instead, she would resort to stealing the weapon instead.

After all, the weapon carried a few stylized markings and a smear of dry blood under the handle... So obviously it had been stolen from a former owner anyway.

Tenten remained close to the stand for several moments. Keeping one of her smaller scrolls concealed in the palm of her hand, waiting for when no one looked. Once the opportunity struck, she ceased the weapon, knelt down and sealed it away before moving away from the stand.

She could clearly hear the angry exclamations coming from the merchant in question behind her. She set out to various stands and examined the weapons closely, deducing that quite many of the weapons were in fact stolen. Some of these merchants seemed to be working for elements of a mercenary force called the Eclipse sisterhood.

She heard some gossip along the way about the organization having a bad reputation and used it to justify her theft, going from stand to stand to filter out weapons and seal them into scrolls in turn along with a great number of thermal clips, which the girl guessed to be important for the guns operations.

By the time she got out of the market, a almost veritable choir had started, coming from enraged merchants fighting amongst themselves, accusing their colleagues for the large scale theft that had just occurred throughout their area, seemingly without even the slightest clue as to who did it.

Overall, Tenten felt happy about her collection. She managed to find three more Revenants and several Assault rifles.. a few dozen thermal clips and a number of pistols. The others would be very pleased with her achievement... and if luck held true, she'd get to keep the Revenants to add to her own arsenal. She eventually stopped when yet another stand stood before her, and like a dutiful ant, she ran to examine what's in store. Yet another Eclipse stand, but the weapon that stood in the back... looked quite special.

It had notable signs of dried blood on the butt and the side, which lightly obscured a mark that looked similar to the ones marking the Normandy, and the uniforms of most of the crew. Another stolen weapon, but other than the blood smears, it seemed like it's still in excellent condition.. the price tag labeled it as a M-29 Incisor. Once the merchant turned away to address a customer, Tenten quickly seized it and sealed it away promptly in time to see a projectile travel through the air, just a few inches away from her face.

"There she is!" a man some distance away yelled, pointing at her while several Eclipse mercenaries appeared. They probably managed to find out who was behind all those thefts and looked up at a strange device with a glaring lens at the center of it, which pointed directly at her.

Tenten lowered her eyes and stared at their painfully yellow armor with black emblems at various places. That could not possibly be good for camouflage.. And while that thought ran through her head, the rest of her body moved with all haste to avoid getting perforated by the number of foes, all eager to kill the thief. Tenten rushed through the crowd, nimbly squeezing through a great number of people while the Eclipse continued to pursue, shoving away people and generally threatening those who came too close as they continued to give chase.

Knowing her peril, she took a straight right and ran down an alley. "That's a dead end, stop her!" the leader shouted while they rushed in after her. Tenten counted at least six people before ducking as warning shots blasted past her along with serious attempts on her life. Fortunately she have had a lot of training concerning gunfire and threw off the pursuers' aim continuously with a variety of maneuvers, while throwing and toppling everything she came across on the way, slowing down her pursuers and throwing off their aim even more. But in the end, she ran into a dead end.

"We got her, take that bitch down!" she heard coming from behind.. But she refused to be deterred by a seemingly hopeless situation, she took a few steps backwards and then rushed towards the wall again, an act that initially caused the approaching mercenaries to laugh at her efforts. But that was until she focused her Chakra underneath her feet and planted them against the wall, and thus proceeded to run up the wall to the utter bewilderment of her opponents. "What the hell are you waiting for? Shoot to kill!" she heard one of them manage to shout after a moment of stunned silence.

Projectiles impacted the wall all around her, and on numerous occasions almost hit her.. would had if not for her current pace as she zigzagged her way up until she found the end of the wall. Upon climbing nearly out of view, she folded out a section of her big scroll. The mercs below stared as smoke billowed out of what seemed to be nothing but parchment... complete with a dozen knives darting out of the smoke, each with a tag hanging from the ring shaped end of the knifes handle. The knives themselves were of little consequence, bouncing off the kinetic barriers of her assailants. They had braced themselves for the impact before they reopened fire only for the tags to go off. If only one went off, it'd do nothing big because of those shields.. but with a dozen overlapping explosions, the mercenaries simply ceased to exist in short order. Tenten slipped away in the resulting confusion and escaped.

* * *

After finishing the meeting with Liara, Shepard found something to be wrong. He had been so busy with Liara that he lost track of Tenten. The lone Kalinin had vanished. He hoped that she simply went back to the ship... but considering her eagerness to see the city, it was more likely that she went to have a look around. That was when he heard an explosion erupt in the distance. The crowds started to panic within moments, forcing Shepard and his team to almost dig their way through the masses towards the direction of the explosion. "This could not possibly be a coincidence." Tali said, fully believing there to be a connection.

Shepard agreed and scanned the crowd, those whom were the most scared seemed to be coming in from a stairs that lead to a lower floor. He believed that would be a fair place to start.. "Follow me." he called out and they made their way down the stairs.. the people giving them a wide berth as the shore party brandished their weapons while running down to find the market in chaos, and with much smoke in the distance.

"Hey, what's going on here?" the Commander shouted at a merchant while he worked hard to pack his merchandise.

"A crazy bitch stole many of our weapons and blew up a group of Eclipse mercs when they tried to apprehend her!" he answered with all the disgust he could muster.

"What did she look like?" Miranda asked him.. trying to make him give as much information as possible.

"She wore clothes that looked as if they came straight from old China." He responded, stopping to scratch his head.

"Sounds like Tenten, Shepard." Tali guessed accurately.

"Where did she go?" Shepard pressed for the answer.

"I don't know, witnesses say she ran up a wall.. _She not did climb_, she actually _ran_ up a wall!" he responded, growing a little frantic when he saw their expressions of disbelief. "Ah, to hell with this, I'm outta here." the merchant continued and finished packing, leaving in a tremendous hurry.

"This adds some credibility to what Onoki told us."

Miranda gave a light shrug... "Seems that way, but we have no idea where she's at now."

"EDI, we need to find Tenten. Scan this building for any energy signatures resembling that of Chakra." Shepard called out as he opened a link to the Normandy.

"I am on it, Commander. Scanning..." the Human waited for several seconds before the AI came forth with her answer; "I am unable to acquire a lock. Too much energy in the background. I can ask one of the other Kalinin for assistance in this matter." the AI suggested.

"Sounds good, EDI. We're heading back." Shepard responded before turning to Tali and Miranda.. "Back to the Normandy, move!"

Upon arriving, they found two Kalinin standing somewhat rigidly at attention outside the Normandy to Shepard's surprise. The shark man that was referred to as Kisame. And one of the lifeless 'puppets' that somehow moved about at Nagato's command... this particular doll sported orange hair, six piercings in the nose and seven in the ears. The Commander made a mental note to ask Nagato about those puppets later, cause these moving corpses disturbed the entire crew even more than husks ever did.

Shepard turned to Kisame... "I asked for only one to assist us."

"Nagato wished to offer his assistance. Considering that Tenten is part of our very small population at the moment and thus vital for our continued existence." the man replied gravely.

"This is too big a matter for just one, even though the Samehada's very effective for tracking." Deva Path seconded.

"Alright.. point taken." Miranda said.. "Who's Samehada?"

Kisame chuckled at the question and pulled his monstrous weapon from his back and practically put it on display.

"Keelah!" Tali gasped, taking a step back as the blade twitched and gnarled.. "Is that thing alive?"

"Yes." was the simple answer... Kisame grinned as the three aliens continued to stare at the weapon. "Among other things, it allows me to track people no matter where they go, as long as they have Chakra. It has tasted the Chakra of those on our team, so it won't be a problem."

Shepard could not help but be astonished to see that a culture possessing limited technology and yet able to engineer an organic weapon like this. And if what Kisame said is of any indication... it's possibly capable of sentient behavior. 'Oddities are starting to become routine on this trip,' he mentally noted. The man briefly asked if they had gotten translators. And yes, each of them said Kelly had been nice enough to provide them with the things. That done, Shepard half-turned.

"Tali, you go in and work with Joker and EDI to help us get a lock on Tenten's position." Shepard requested of the Quarian.. "I, Miranda, Kisame and Nagato will search in the field. Let's go."

* * *

Tenten cursed as she was forced to realize it; she had just gotten herself hopelessly lost. Eclipse seemed to be everywhere, continuing to search for the girl throughout the streets. Irrevocably causing Tenten to move around more and more. She may be in the opposite part of this huge city for all she knew. The kunoichi jumped off the road and down onto a protruding edge along the wall of the sky scraper and this way managed to evade the latest patrol. They were persistent, but nowhere close to that of the Geth. And not nearly as thorough.

She dropped down, catching the edge with her hands before dropping herself further down to the next edge below and repeated the motions until she managed to get to a small dock for those flying vehicles and moved forward past a small station where a number of Officers sat.. she felt herself at a complete loss at how to continue and where to go. The girl ran up the stairs to the left and prodded the door open, sneaking a peek around the corner to see yet another bunch of Eclipse. "Damn, how many of those are there?" she whispered to herself in frustration and backtracked to the dock, at which one of the officers noticed her apparent confusion.

"May I help you, miss?" she asked.

"Hm? I'm just looking for Shepard." the girl replied.. "I'm kinda lost."

"You mean Commander Shepard? Liara notified me that he would come to me and ask about the whereabouts of Thane Krios." the Asari responded.

"So, he'll come here?" Tenten asked.

"To my knowledge yes, but it is also possible that he might have found the assassin's current location from a different source and set out to the Dantius Towers already, Either way, if he's searching for Thane.. that is the best place to go, since he is currently on a job over there." the Officer answered.

Tenten scratched her chin.. "So... how do I get there?"

"I could get you a cab if you want me to.. but it's dangerous"

"I can take care of myself." Tenten boasted mildly. Seryna nodded slowly and said she'd order a cab then.

Several minutes after, Tenten had left for the Dantius Towers despite her apparent nervousness about sitting in one of those flying vehicles. But she forcefully swallowed her discomfort and climbed on board. And told the driver where she needed to go.

* * *

Kisame and the others arrived and stood at a veritable crossroad as the man looked to the sides.. "Seems like the trail just split up in different directions."

"I'm not really sure how you can call it a trail.. we went in a completely different direction." Shepard said with some frustration.

"The brat came this way. Of that, I'm certain!" Kisame responded harshly.

"Then let's split up.. we'll check around here. You follow the other trail." Nagato instructed him.

"Yeah, yeah." the missing-nin responded and went up the stairs and past the door that opened to allow Kisame through, and closed just as fast in succession after he passed through.

...

"Commander Shepard, I presume?" Seryna spoke up.. feeling slightly bad that she might have been too quick to make her assumptions.

"Yes. Seryna I presume?" Shepard asked, straight to the point.

...

Kisame snorted at the trail ending just past the door.. but he assumed that he'll manage to pick up the 'scent' again up ahead, where he found himself at a very spacious transport hub. The number of aliens there did little but to chat with one another though. He mused a little bit while watching the commotion. Allowing himself a brief exploration as he turned to the right and traversed across the area until greeted by an Asari by the name of Dara. "Can I help you with anything?" she asked curiously.

"Hm, yes. I'm searching for a girl with big murderous powers with little to lose." he spoke, humorously meant.. but she quickly misunderstood.

"What, why.. do you have a problem? No. Did she kill somebody already?" Dara asked, standing up from her chair abruptly.. worried that the recently-arrived Justicar's in the process of stirring up Illium's underworld already.

"Yeah, I guess she kind of did." he thought back on what Shepard had told him regarding the earlier explosion. But Tenten wouldn't use her weapons for no reason.

"You're here to get her?"

"Yeah, I'll just be picking her up and then we'll take our leave."

Dara nodded.. "I'll order a cab.. if we're quick. You can stop her from causing anymore trouble."

* * *

Shepard found himself sitting in Seryna's vehicle, doing what he originally planned to do since he finished his talks with Liara. But now the trip carried two purposes. Miranda and Nagato sat in the back seats, exchanging the occasional words, but most of the time listened to those on the front seats. "Here's hoping she hasn't gotten herself in trouble. The towers are going to become a battlefield soon."

"For what it is worth, I'm sorry." Seryna apologized deeply.

"Commander, regarding Kisame." EDI spoke up through Shepard's communicator.

The Commander responded immediately.. "Tell him to return to the ship, we got Tenten's general location and heading there now."

"Actually, he's heading to a different part of the city.. claiming that he found where she went. But he will instead end up in the Justicar's location."

"W-what?" they were split up again... even further this time. Heading to his main objectives on Illium separately out of pure coincidence. He rushed to turn on the communicator again.. "Tell Mordin and Jack to suit up and head to Kisame's destination ASAP! Prevent the whole situation from going beyond FUBAR!"

"Problems?" Miranda asked.

"Kisame is heading towards the Justicar's location. Apparently mistaking it for Tenten's, based perhaps on a misunderstanding." was Shepard's guess.

Nagato said nothing.. somehow he wasn't surprised in the least. But then again, he never showed much facial expression with most of his Paths except Asura Path. But back on the Normandy, Nagato turned to Konan. "Kisame's going to the wrong place. Make sure to tail Mordin, hurry for security sake.. back them up."

"Yes." the kunoichi whispered as she stood up and hurried to the elevator, managing to intercept it in time.. Mordin appeared to be on the way down already, standing there as he configured that odd interface that seemed to hover around his left arm. The old Salarian did not pay much attention to Konan, which she was thankful for. If he did venture to ask, she'll just say that she's searching for Hidan, who's currently downstairs in engineering.

The elevator opened, and Jack entered.. fuming after having had another argument with the man. But Konan noticed that her eyes seemed rather dreamy too. To avoid being suspicious, she left the elevator, but left several sheets of paper behind – charged with chakra which quickly got attached to Mordin's and Jack's clothes and blended in perfectly. The contraption closed and took the two down to the shuttle they planned to use due to the emergency of the situation. "Tailing in process." she quietly mumbled to herself, turning to look down at the shuttle as the two down below entered and flew it out of the hangar.

* * *

"Why do we have to keep waiting here? They're all out there!" Naruto complained gruffly.

"T-that's not true. We still have Onoki, Hidan and Konan on board." Hinata whispered, her Byakugan active, so she knew what the woman did on the lower floor.

"Currently you're both our trump card, and important pieces for the future. We cannot risk having you exposed to trouble over trivial matters." Nagato strictly notified him.. though Naruto merely scoffed at it. Nagato was worried despite not showing it though.. Deva Path's out there.. Kisame's tough enough, no worries in that direction. But Tenten however, could be in danger.

Overall, the situation wasn't too much to manage if fixed in short order. But he could not get rid of the haunting feeling that things could get a whole lot more difficult soon.


	5. Chapter 5

The cab flew along the long streams of the airborne traffic that colored the air all across Nos Astra, the driver was no one special. A Batarian cab owner minding his own business, nothing more, nothing less. He recently picked up a strange foreign girl, a Human from the looks of it. To his mild amusement, she quickly became airsick, seemingly on the verge of saying hello to her breakfast. Like most Batarians, he's no fan of Humans. But nevertheless he offered a paper bag to her quickly. Strange thing is, she did not look as if she had ever seen, nor even heard of Batarians before. The girl grimacing as she tried to find out which pair of eyes to focus on. Strange. But since he had lived here for so long, he stopped believing of other races with fewer eyes as less intelligent, but this girl did seem odd. Eventually, he stopped paying attention to her oddity and sped his car along towards the intended destination, the very much infamous Dantius twin towers in the distance. Once they arrived, he slowed down and landed not far from the main entrance... "Alright, that will be..." he turned to his passenger, all of his four eyes widening in a mixture of shock and surprise as his passenger was nowhere to be seen... except an incredibly perplexed Krogan who apparently had no idea how he ended up in the cab."Who the hell are you?"

* * *

"Substitution technique... successful." Tenten gasped, hiding just around the corner at the entrance. She felt bad for butting out like that.. listening to the verbal argument between cab owner and the passer-by she used to switch places with. But she did not have any money with which to pay him. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

"Aaahh!" a yelp could be heard from further up ahead.. "Hurry.. Aaargh!" a Salarian appeared, shouting to someone just before he got his guts blown out by a trio of rounds that were unloaded into him by an unseen foe... dead before he hit the floor. Another ran into view, caught a round in his side, stumbling forward from the blow, fell to the ground and desperately attempted to crawl away to safety.  
That was when the enemies appeared, two mechs with their guns raised as well as a couple of mechs that looked like a mockery of dogs. One of them saw Tenten and began to leap in her general direction, quickly followed by the others... the wounded Salarian momentarily forgotten.

Tenten quickly flipped a scroll out of her left pocket and unfurled it, launching a number of kunai with paper bombs attached at her opponents while sidestepping to avoid getting hit as the mechs in the back opened fire.. the one in front caught two of the weapons and bounced them off its kinetic barrier. The other set of knives having the same effect on the other dog, but then the tags went off, obscuring the mechs in a series of overlapping explosions as they were destroyed in detail.

The other mechs carried on however, apparently unfazed by the losses and closed the distance. The kinetic barriers possessed by so many in the galaxy beyond their world proved troublesome to a great extent. The girl quickly unfurled her scroll further past several signs until she got the one she wanted. She held it over her head and discharged the contents of the particular sign.. ejecting a cannonball sized orb of metal with several protruding spikes that vaulted through the air and through size and sheer weight managed to force itself through a mech's barrier and struck the synthetic with sufficient force to disable it.. but unfortunately for the other opponent, the orb carried a great number of explosive tags which all exploded simultaneously and blew the synthetics to pieces, scarring the area with both the resulting heat and shrapnel.

"Done... and done." Tenten smiled triumphantly... until the silence descending upon the courtyard revealed the distant heavy breathing and weak cries for help from the wounded alien she saw just moments ago.  
Concerned, she moved on.. covering the distance between herself and the distant corner in a heartbeat and found the being lingering against a wall, coughing blood and groaning in pain. "You all right?"

"I was shot, what do you think?" he shot back with a cough.

"Hah, very funny." she said completely deadpan as she summoned a roll of bandages from one of her smaller scrolls.

"Do you have medigel, by any chance?" the Salarian worker asked hopefully.

"Not really, I got bandages, a spare blood pill and... anyway." she replied as she started by laying pressure to the worker's leg and ripped open to reveal the wound.. she attempted a brute force method of stopping the blood... "This might sting a little." she warned; and no kidding.. he let out a painful whimper as she poured some oil onto the wound and then put it on fire.. searing the wound through and through.

"Gaahh! Where did you learn to heal?" he yelped in disbelief.

"Just a temporary solution.." she assured him as she finished cauterizing his wounds before bandaging him. "... till help arrives." she finished the bandaging in short order before forcefully feeding him the blood pill. "You'll be fine for now. Tell me, what happened here?"

The alien took several rough ragged breaths from the pain before he responded.. "We were just working late. But that madwoman Nassana's growing ever more paranoid. We're nothing but expendable to her. She sees potential assassins everywhere."

Tenten was taken aback by the severity of the situation.. "How terrible. They shot you, just like that? Are there other people still inside?"

"Yeah, they're all upstairs.. But they might be dead by now, there are mercs everywhere.. Eclipse."

"Eclipse? Why are they here?" Eclipse, _again_.

"She found out that there's someone out there coming for her. So she reinforced her security. She got a private army protecting herself!" he coughed.

"Seen anyone else in there so far?"

"No.. if anyone comes, who can help.. please tell them to save my friends. Some of them jumped out of the windows to escape the dogs."

By then, her sensitive ears seemed to catch wind of a gunshot far above. Tenten looked up and saw the shadow of someone standing against a window far above, killed expertly by an unseen enemy. She curled her fist.

"Don't worry, I'll try to save your co-workers if I see them."

"What? But you're just a young girl.. what can you-?" he asked, horrified.. but then became truly surprised as the girl began climbing straight up the wall of the building. The Salarian below never thought anything like that could ever happen outside an action movie. He could only stare, the pain apparently forgotten. The girl climbed higher and higher until she found an open window and climbed inside.

* * *

"We've lost contact with third squad, hurry it up!" one of the mercs in the fourth floor yelled as the rest of his squad ran for the stairs to get up to the sixth floor.. but were obstructed very quickly from their destination when a dozen Kunai struck the wall in front of them.. "What the-" then the attached tags exploded. Tenten left her current hiding spot and ran past the broken corpses of her most recent set of kills. On the way, she picked up a data pad that one of the mercs had dropped before he died, which conveniently displayed her current location.. and the location of the last great disturbance caused by whoever had gotten in before her.  
She did not know exactly how to proceed.. the data pad showed a three-dimensional map of the building as well as blips displaying the location of other squads. And from what she saw, the number of Eclipse proved staggering. The number of patrols in the higher levels even moreso. But to her trained eyes, there seemed to be one weakness that could allow her to slip through all of these defenses unmolested; the ventilation system. And if she's lucky, the mysterious other causing trouble in the tower maybe in there as well.  
Tenten went up a floor and located a vent through which to climb. And so she started navigating through a gigantic labyrinth.. Using the data pad to guide her way up, crossing a dozen floors before she noted a change in the atmosphere. She smelled something strange in the air.. something alien. Everything's alien here, but this scent's a peculiar one. The girl advanced from there with utmost caution, a Kunai held at the ready as she crossed through several dark intersections. Fully alert, but didn't notice anything more until she came upon another crossroad, where she happened upon a completely motionless figure roughly to her left who launched itself at her.

"Uh?" she gasped as she rolled in the opposite direction, but hit the wall in that very narrow passage, allowing the other being to close the gap without difficulty. It happened so quickly as their movements blurred in unison, trying to press for an advantage. The girl pulled out a second knife after a short trading of blows.. but within the following seconds, it turned into a complete stalemate.  
The being had his arm pressed against her throat, while the other, pressed a gun against the side of her head. He thought he was on top of things, but then he noticed her crossed arms which culminated in a pair of knives flanking his neck from behind.. even if he pulled the trigger first, the knives could just as quickly be plunged into his throat. They were both trapped.

Tenten's eyes glared at the person before her. It looked like a reptilian of some sort. His nearly completely black eyes, each with double eyelids staring down at her.. aware and silent. When he finally spoke up.. she was instantly reminded by the flanging voice belonging to the Turian on board the Normandy, sounding as if there's a second person hiding not far away, mimicking the alien's voice and mannerism perfectly. This being spoke like that as well, but his voice was dry, very dry. "Who are you?"

The girl tilted her head, very slightly.. "If we both got something against Nassana, on the same side." she uttered quietly, keeping her cool, ready to impale his throat at the slightest provocation.

The two stared at each other in a tense moment that seemed to go on forever.. both maintaining a gaze that, if a glare could kill, both of them could have blown a hole into the side of a mountain. But neither even flinched.

"Hey, there's people in there!" a voice came from underneath them.. breaking the ice instantly. Footfall could be heard across the surrounding area.. both the Shinobi and the Assassin moved... the latter went right back to climbing while the former used her scroll to summon another kunai grenade and thrust it into the closest shaft with enough force to make it fall through and straight down to the guard in the corridor below them, who had raised his weapon to fire... only to gasp as the object fell down towards him.

"... Eh?"

* * *

Shepard and company arrived at the Dantius towers and stepped of.. only Seryna remained in the car.. They gazed at the damage caused to the area. "Seems like the party started already." the Officer offered her obvious thoughts.

"You sure she ended up here?" Shepard asked Seryna.. She nodded firmly in response.

Nagato's Deva Path took a step forward with a stern gaze fixed on the scattered pieces of metal across the scene. He raised a hand and to Miranda's fascination.. every small piece of metal came to hover clear off the ground and soon collected into a loose sphere that hovered in front of him as he examined the pieces. "Tenten fought here earlier." he confirmed quietly.

"How can you tell?" Shepard asked, confused about how Nagato came to that conclusion so quickly with such certainty.

"These-" he dropped every piece of metal that remained of the mechs that fought on this very ground. And from the mess, a number of bent kunai, twisted knives and a broken parts of a metallic sphere surfaced. "These are the remains of weapons we commonly use. I'm guessing some of these pieces used to be a kunai grenade. And Tenten's the weapons user among us."

"I see..." the Commander whispered as coughs could be heard further up ahead. Shepard quickly followed the noise, finding a Salarian worker leaning against the wall, bandaged. He also noted to himself that the place smelled strongly of burnt flesh.

The victim looked up... "Kh.. Where are the police?" he asked while gritting his teeth.

"Damn, what happened to your wounds? Don't move, I'll get you some medigel." Shepard quickly said as he got down on one knee and activated his omni-tool.

"Crazy girl burnt my wounds and bandaged me."

"This is Tenten's handiwork indeed." Nagato said, sounding amused without the slightest change of expression. "She simply cauterized the wounds to prevent him from bleeding out. Painful, but effective."

Shepard and Miranda removed the bandages and applied medigel as promised, the victim quickly showing signs of recovery from his injuries. "T-thank you." the worker said with a nod as he slowly got back on his feet with some effort.

"There's a car outside the entrance, go and report to the officer waiting there." Shepard quickly instructed him and gave directions. But before the Salarian could leave, Nagato took his arm..

"Where is she now, the girl?" he inquired.

"Last I saw she climbed straight up that wall and into one of the open windows a few floors above us."

Nagato let him leave at that.

"We got to hurry and find her befo-" Shepard tried to finish his sentence when an explosion went off far above them.. the windows shattering outwards from the force exerted against them, the cloud of broken glass mixed with a couple of Eclipse tumbling off the floor and crashed into the ground not far from their position. "Unless she just got herself killed."

"No, she's an expert with weapons and explosives. She wouldn't fall victim to her own tools." Nagato rebutted as he ran in through the closest door in a hurry, leaving Shepard and Miranda to hurry in after him. "But we need to hurry anyway and back her up if necessary."

* * *

"You never heard the meaning of subtlety?" Thane asked as he hurried up the cramped spaces of the ventilation system, followed closely by Tenten.. "If you're after Nassana, why did you bring a bomb?"

"We'd be lying down there with more holes in our bodies than anyone would care to count if not." Tenten argued with a huff.

"This would not have happened if you stayed out of this place."

The girl thought back to what the alien downstairs said regarding assassins and guessed that he might be one Nassana's worried about. "What about you? Could you not have picked any better place to hunt her? Many died here because you came." she was pointing to the testimony given by the worker she helped earlier.

"The target areas are never in the control of the attacker, miss." Thane remarked dryly.

"There's always a better spot!"

Noise echoed from all around them as survivors of the bomb earlier managed to warn the rest about the intruders. Eclipse actively searching for the location of their targets. The floors almost shook with crowds worth of trampling feet thundering through the halls around them. Shouts and the odd mechanical voices of various types of mechs echoing throughout the place. Very noisy, sufficed to say.

"How much further?" Tenten was curious enough to ask.

"I don't know, lost track. But we are getting close to the roof.. from there we have to cross the bridge to get to Nassana's penthouse." The Drell explained without breaking his pace.

"Sigh, why do you aliens care to build stuff so tall anyway?" she asked in exasperation.

Thane thought that to be an odd question.. "For the same reasons you Humans build your buildings tall." he replied bluntly.

"I'm not Human."

The Drell blinked, taking a quick glance over his shoulder at the girl. "What else could you be, having the same characteristics?"

"Shinobi. Some seem to call us Kalinin, wherever they got that from."

"Ah, a new species?"

Tenten tried to answer, but bullets penetrated the metal plate that she crawled on, but cleanly missed. Though it still forced the two to hurry, faster and faster upwards. No time to dawdle, and so up they went. Eventually, the commotion outside the vents began to quiet down.. It seemed like they had managed to escape their enemies, for now at least.

* * *

"Miss Nassana. We got something here." one of the mercs, their leader based in the towers; Talyana, stated as she looked over the schematics of the twin towers, as well as using hidden sensors around the building to scan for life signs. Right now most of them belonged to her fellow Eclipse, while a few belonged to remaining workers that had been locked up in various locations. However, something's wrong.

"What is it?" their client asked angrily as frustration set in.. Annoyed by how long it's taking to take down the assassin after her life. The business woman glowered at the Talyana, who found herself flinching at the fierce glare.

The Asari merc gave her data pad to Nassana, who quickly began to look for whatever her hired mercenary worried about.  
"We've detected a heavily armed group advancing from the lower floors. They're definitely not fellow Eclipse. Also, we've lost track of those coming up through the tower's ventilation system. It won't be long till they arrive at the top floor at this rate."

"So my next of kin are going for broke by sending entire groups of assassins?" The client mused to herself. "What else?"

"Yes. We're getting some really strange energy readings coming from both groups..."

"You can study them later.. I want them dead, now!"

"Yes, mistress." Talyana replied and issued orders through local Eclipse channels. "All men from 45th to 50th floor converge on 47th, quick! Operator, slow the elevator and stop it at 47th. You will form a trap by the elevator, surround and kill everyone emerging from it." she could trust the team leaders on the other tower to perform the smaller tasks by themselves. She turned her attention to the rest of the forces under her command.. "All those from 51st floor and up gather around the roof area. Those assassins moving through the vents will have to surface eventually, kill them once they do!"

* * *

The elevator appeared to be slowing down, much to the discomfort of those inside.. Nagato being the one most annoyed by it. He disliked using the contraptions from the start, and deeply missed the good old staircases already. They had already scaled a few floors before they entered this elevator, saving a couple of groups of sealed-up workers along the way, every one of them did note that there's someone around wreaking havoc. But they had no idea who caused the ongoing ruckus.

"Either it's a mechanical error. Or we are being led right into a trap." Miranda thought aloud.

"Only one way to know for sure, stay focused." Shepard replied, tightening the grip around his Rifle.

Nagato let out an audible huff.. "It's official, I hate elevators."

The contraption eventually settled on the 47th floor and slowly opened so they could leave. Beyond the door, they found only a single light illuminating the hall. A number of crates and metal beams circling the area, partially hidden in the shadows.

"Definitely a trap." The Shinobi sounded extremely suspicious.

"I don't see any movements." Miranda notified the rest quietly. Shepard took a step forward cautiously, with the rest following him closely while the door behind softly slammed shut. Nagato hesitated, it felt wrong to rely on motion detectors. Every fiber of his Deva Path and his own body screamed at him that they are walking straight into an ambush.

Shepard and Miranda stepped into the light. The woman's motion detector suddenly flared up.. Dozens of contacts appearing suddenly. She didn't think that so many mercenaries could stand so still.

Time seemed to slow down for all of them as Deva Path sprang forward just as the ambush happened. A great number of mercenaries appearing from the shadows, and quickly surrounded the considerably smaller group, all their weapons arrayed. It was nothing but pure overkill, the team leaders about to shout the order to fire.  
Despite the lopsided odds, Shepard and Miranda raised their weapons, about to fire.. "Get closer to me, quick!" Nagato's Deva Path shouted at them as she forced himself in-between them, and raised his arms.

"Fire!" came the order and all the mercs discharged their weapons. Time itself seemed to slow down to an uttermost crawl. Deva Path's arms did not seem to raise quickly enough, but they did. He opened his palms. All the projectiles had gone airborne, traveling to their intended destinations. He could see it all, the moment when the whole world seemed to turn white. He closed his eyes and focused.. doing all of this with such high speed and just as quickly opened his eyes an instant before the waves of bullets could strike.

"Shinra Tensei."

Shepard did not know what just happened, the mercenaries came out at them. Much more than he had thought the ambush would contain, old horde tactics. Then a few quick words came from Nagato after he flung himself between them. But he barely managed to listen as he stared down several more guns than he could hold within his vision at once. But right there, in an instant; the world suddenly shook violently.  
The crates collapsed, bodies were sent flying in chaotic trajectories, metal beams bent out of shape and smashed their way through the air, walls and floor. Walls buckled upon themselves from the unfamiliar stress that came from a direction they hadn't been built to withstand. Dust kicked up, smoke, shattered weapons, materials and tools were thrown about, all accompanied by a sound that seemed to split the area asunder. Only the place where the three stood seemed to remain unchanged, as if they were in the middle of the heart of the storm, the one untouched spot in the world.  
The effects could even be seen by people far away from the towers, the windows encircling the 47th floor along with that of the 46th and the 48th shattered outwardly into clouds of millions of fragments that covered the immediate area around the tower in a furious tempest of glass, metal and the occasional bodies.. traffic surrounding the area collapsed as everyone fled the sudden commotion, and whatever news reports were going on at that time nearby came to be focused squarely on the disaster that occurred before their eyes.

* * *

"We've lost the 47th." Talyana gasped as the strange signature on the same floor had just radiated a massive amount of energy in every single direction.. She also lost contact with everyone stationed on the floor. Outside, she could hear a monstrous roar of destruction.

"What? What the hell just happened?" Nassana yelled at her.

Talyana hesitated visibly, dumbstruck by the events.. "We lost everyone in the ambush. But our sensors shows that the damage has brought the 47th floor to a near total collapse. Targets... unscathed."

"Impossible!"

"It's was caused by a sudden cascade from the signature detected earlier. But... is this biotic in origin or something else entirely?" Talyana loudly contemplated as she tried to make sense of it.. and then it came to her. "All personnel in the roof area, stay on your guard! The intruders possess unnaturally powerful biotics in their midst and one of them is heading towards your location! Take every extreme measure necessary to destroy it ASAP!"

* * *

Tenten and Thane continued to scale through the ventilation minutes before, closing in on the very top of the tower. Outside activity had grown to an almost absurd extent.

"There goes the chance for a silent kill." Thane quietly lamented.. "Now we got no choice but to fight our way through them."

"I believe we can still win though. Those Eclipse doesn't seem all that strong to me."

Thane winced at such confidence, and having arrived at a dead end, cold air blowing in from beyond the vent.. the Drell delivered a quick strike to remove said vent, having it crash down to the floor a couple of feet beneath it. With stealth no longer a viable solution, he decided that he might as well get rough.. "My last job." he repeated in his mind like a mantra. He pulled himself out of ventilation and landed himself gracefully on the rooftop, followed quickly by the Shinobi. For the few seconds it took for the mercenaries to investigate the sudden noise, the two spent the brief moment to stretch their legs before diving into cover once a hail of bullets started to rain vertically through the air.

The Eclipse leaders had chosen to be careful. Sentinels and Vanguards in front and Infiltrators further behind laying down suppression fire. Thane tried to take potshots at the leading forces of the Eclipse, but alternated to his sniper rifle to get rid of those Infiltrators. He managed successfully to snipe one before his rifle got hit and broke it in half. "Damn..." Thane muttered, sinking back into cover.  
Tenten revealed herself from cover and tossed a flurry of Kunai before diving back down again.. the results was no different from before, the knives was repelled by the kinetic barriers, and then the tags attached exploded.. but with one important difference. Though several of the front most Vanguards were blown up quite effectively from the overlapping explosions, the Sentinels shrugged it off and kept going.  
Thane took over again, using his sub-machine gun to try and bring down the advancing Sentinels, but it did not dent their numbers.. All the combined weapons fire prevented him from maintaining any sustained fire on his intended targets.

"Um, could you get by with this?" Tenten asked she unfurled one of her smaller scrolls that she used for the thefts earlier. Thane only looked down at the scroll in question, confused about the significance of a scroll of paper filled with strange signs.

"I got no time for ga-"

Then a small puff of smoke appeared from the scroll once she put her hand on one of the strange signs.. and when the smoke were gone.. she held up her recently acquired M-29 Incisor.

"What? How?" He wanted to ask when she pushed the weapon into Thane's hand..

"You know how to use this? Then use it, but I expect it back once we're done!"

The Drell gave a prompt nod and shouldered the weapon, he rose from cover and squeezed the trigger, aiming at the foremost Sentinel, a trio of shots with barely the slightest of recoil left the rifle and collapsed the target's shield. A loud flurry of projectiles struck the unshielded opponent, who immediately crumpled into a heap. Thane looked to his side, Tenten imitating the Drell's hold on the sniper rifle with an M-76 Revenant in her hands. "I expect some explanation about how you got these and how you managed to transport them later." he asked, not sure if he should feel amused, or disturbed.

The mercs before them halted as they came under fire from the opposition, surprised at how those two managed to acquire such rare and exclusive weaponry. Very high quality weaponry they could never even hope to buy without becoming stupidly rich first. This gave the two enough room to advance on the next set of cover.. alternating fire seamlessly as they began to cut their opponents down. Thane dropped the shields, and Tenten finished them off. Bodies tumbled and fell, while those further back called for reinforcements that rushed to aid their comrades against the intruders. But most of those weren't particularly special compared to the Sentinels and Vanguards. And therefore got themselves killed almost as fast as they could enter the fight, the others managing to put up some fight alongside support drones buzzing into the action. A massive gunfight broke out, the two sides often switching between pushing each others back a few feet. Dozens of thermal clips quickly being expended on both sides. But the Eclipse failed to inflict losses on their foes. In fact, their overwhelming numbers caused a great number of unintentional fratricides, doing more harm to themselves than good. Not to mention the narrow space. It turned their overwhelming numbers against them.  
Drell often produced some of the best assassins in the galaxy, methodical, swift, no waste of movements. Thane cut down his foes and ducked away from incoming fire expertly. Tenten on the other hand never had any true training with using projectile weapons beyond the weapons she was originally trained to wield. But a whole year of constant battle against armies wielding such advanced weapons had instilled her with a great respect for the deadly prowess of such weaponry and acted upon that knowledge with extreme caution to prevent getting hit and got into cover much more often than Thane.. logical since she did not possess any kinetic barriers of her own, instead relying on making potshots. Sometimes even firing blind at times whenever the amount of gunfire towards her position intensified.  
But eventually the sheer weight of numbers on the side of the Eclipse seemed like it'd just prevail, even though it meant they had to scale a ramparts filled with their own dead in the process. But then the tower shook from the sudden commotion below, blowing a sizable gap in the middle of the tower, making the whole construct shudder and sway dangerously.

"What was...?" Thane asked as he gazed at the horizon, disturbed by how much the tower suddenly tilted.

Tenten also gazed at the floor, but quickly turned to the mercs. This sudden situation had caused them to panic. "Ignore it, blow a hole through them before this gets any worse!"

Thus the two resumed the shooting, using the confused state of the mercs against them. Cutting down several of them before they could recover enough to again form a comprehensive defense, diving into cover and shooting back in retaliation. But the Drell and the Kalinin pushed forward towards the bridge relentlessly. Taking every available moment and gap to riddle their immediate foes with bullets so they could proceed. "Just a little more!"

* * *

"What do you mean, 'they're already engaged?'" Talyana shouted into her communicator.

"I'm sorry mistress, but they are putting up one hell of a fight. The tower is destabilizing, we have to withdraw!" was the reply she received.

"No, you push them back this instant!"

The other tried to respond when a shot was heard and the line went silent.

"Damn it, this operation's going down the shit, very quickly." Talyana muttered as she looked around at her somewhat nervous subordinates... trying to keep herself rigid to act as a good example to those under her command. But in truth, her sinking heart told of the possible outcome of this scenario.

"Just what the hell am I paying you for? There are just a few of them out there and they are mopping the floor with your prized troops!" Nassana cried out angrily at this failure.

"I apologize. Our enemies here are greater than we expected. The other tower will be lost at this rate. The only good news is that the other group down there are stuck and can't move any further."

* * *

Miranda was completely astonished by the sheer amount of damage caused by that Deva Path in such a short time span. The whole floor was basically gone, but that gave way to a more pressing concern. The building's swaying dangerously, and creaking over their heads.. "The frames and supports on this floor won't last long at this rate, the tower could topple at any moment."

Nagato approached the closest window and gazed down from it and up.. As far as he could discern the extensive fighting going on at the top. However, though he wanted to go up there, he could not leave these two behind. Worse, the elevator was destroyed by his Shinra Tensei as well. "Come here. I'll go down, when I give the signal, jump." he instructed bluntly before he took a step off the edge and fell.

"What the hell are you doing?" Shepard shouted, feeling a lump form in his throat the second Deva Path stepped off the floor. The Commander and Miranda ran to the edge and peered down in a growing sense of shock, that was when they saw the Path sliding down along the windows towards the ground far below.. it did not take long before Deva Path reached the ground without a hassle, turned around and waved up at them.. "You've got be kidding!"

"There's NO way we can do that!" Miranda spoke up in disbelief until both she and Shepard felt an unearthly tug that towed them off the floor and into free fall. She gasped at the sudden event, while Shepard only went through a moment of déjà vu as he fell. There was impossibly little they could do as they dropped like rocks all the dozens of floors until another strange force attracted them... "Um, what?" the woman could had sworn she had just seen a black orb hover about shoulder height before it vanished from sight, the attraction changing to the point of almost pulling them upwards, though their momentum carried them slowly down the rest of the way until they landed on the ground, next to Deva Path. Almost in shock, Miranda collapsed onto her knees.

Shepard recovered the quickest as he slowly stood up again.. "What was that, Nagato?" Deva Path gave no answer as it proceeded beyond the courtyard.

"G-gravity!" Miranda spoke breathlessly.. "He actually manipulates gravity.." she got up slowly.. Shepard gave her some support as they started to walk, trying to keep up with the now rapidly walking Deva Path.

"But so can biotics!" Shepard replied.

Miranda huffed.. "This guy does it on a whole different level."

* * *

The bridge stood before them, arrayed with crates that hid multiple defensive lines of Eclipse. However, many of those positions were hastily abandoned as the opposing towers threatened to fall and tear the bridge down along with it.

Tenten and Thane used every available gap to advance across the distance, chasing the fleeing mercenaries as well as gunning down those trying to stop their pursuers or lagged behind the others. The loud creaking across the entire bridge appearing to be one hell of a motivator to cross it as fast as their legs could carry them.  
Rockets impacted with the bridge from turrets up high, raining fire upon them and further damaging the bridge. Another sharp grating sound pierced their ears, signaling a horrific amount of pressure against the bridge. The tower behind them slowly toppling in its twin's general direction to the horror of everyone in the area.

Thane grappled the Incisor and fried the shields off the turrets with a duo of bursts. Tenten used her Revenant to rip the constructs to pieces with gunfire before they returned to the established collaboration routine against the opposing mercs. However, the last few still standing against them had lost their guts, figuratively speaking, and fled further away from the opposing building that kept getting closer. The bridge collapsing, and bending underneath them in several places. Tenten and Thane switched to run with all due haste, leaping over gaps and bumps, evading debris that ejected from the heavily stressed structure like shrapnel. Both them and the mercs had a sinking feeling that they are well and truly screwed this time as the tilting tower sought to tear down the other.

* * *

"It's falling!" Miranda gasped, seeing the tower from the 48th and up falling.

Shepard could not help but stare.. basically, all that he sought on this world were to recruit two people for an important mission. But now he stared at the start of a disaster, as well as possibility of death for one of those he sought to recruit, and one of the youngest remaining Kalinin. And he could do nothing but watch helplessly.. "D-damn it."

Nagato focused his Chakra on a huge scale back on the Normandy, and forced most of it over to Deva Path, preparing for what could perhaps be one of his greatest achievements.. Eh, nothing like that on his mind. The purpose by and large was to save Tenten from certain death. And in a heavy moment of concentration, Deva Path, a little further away behind the Commander and the Cerberus Operative.. The Paths clasped his hands together, and slowly pulled them apart after the act, a dark orb formed between his palms.. readying a certain Jutsu for launch.

"Chibaku Tensei!"


	6. Chapter 6

The last pair of mercenaries fell before a well placed salvos from the kunoichi and the assassin in their bid to escape the collapsing bridge, and the massive falling tower behind them. They took a second of a breather once they had successfully gotten to the very doorstep of Nassana's penthouse, the bridge finally giving away from the tremendous force exerted upon it, and fell until it suddenly stopped, the falling tower caught in-between two powerful gravity wells.

"What is that.. ?" Thane asked, gesturing at a tiny pulsing black orb that had suddenly taken position above the collapsing tower on the far side, halting its tilting motion and caused it to hover in a mind-numbingly tranquil manner. Everything not nailed down started to _fall up_ towards the orb and created layers of plastic, metal and glass around it. The bizarre view of the tower stopping its fall in mid-air.. instead only rocking roughly side to side as it faintly twisted under the force to two gravity wells.

"Nagato's Chibaku Tensei. He must be close if he deployed such a demanding Jutsu." Tenten replied breathlessly as she watched the effects exerted upon the environment. Lighter things on their side such as weapons and tools left the floors. "At the moment the gravitational force are focused on the tower, but we should get inside before the effect bleeds over to other things, like us."

The Drell did not understand half of what she just said, but understood the danger implied. "Then let us go, lest Nassana manage to escape." he noted and shouldered the Incisor and ran for the entrance leading into the Asari business woman's penthouse, and opened it. Quickly heading inside while Tenten checked the area behind them before following suit.

"There has been no word since that?" Nassana demanded an answer.. she had only heard that the intruders were still alive, and that there's some sort of a phenomenon going on outside. Like a large-scale singularity that existed for the sake of keeping the other tower from falling completely.

Talyana shook her head seriously.. "No, we might be looking at a total loss. I've called for a Gunship so we can evacuate."

Nassana turned towards the window, watching as the small craft entered the view, heading for their position. Seeing as it's just a matter of time before this place would face destruction as well, she allowed the mercenaries within the same office to blow away the window to allow an entry point to the Gunship which at Talyana's instructions turned sidewards them upon final approach, and opened the side hatch so that the remaining people before it could climb on board. The client went in first, followed by Talyana's subordinates before she herself entered. The woman threw a glance over her shoulder at the office door as it suddenly burst open and revealed the intruders charging in, guns already raised.

Talyana smiled in a smug manner and closed the hatch, the projectiles coming from the intruders harmlessly bouncing off the craft's hull.

The gunship veered away from the building and would have escaped if Tenten did not take the proper measures.. she unfurled another scroll and shot forth from it a great length of chains. The girl had a lot of training with her accuracy with such binding techniques, and successfully bound the Gunships landing gear. Thane watched as Tenten grabbed hold of the chain. And against his better judgment, he ran and jumped, also seizing hold of the chain, hanging under Tenten's position as they all left the tower behind.

They appeared to have little choice in the matter, as it's their only ticket off the tower. And the only way to pursue Nassana.

* * *

Shepard stood, as if locked in a trance as he stared up at the hovering skyscraper above them.. Miranda herself could not believe what she was seeing before her eyes, being very much familiar with the greatest feats of Biotic ability, but was completely dumbstruck by Nagato's sheer ability. "How did you...?"

"If that small craft, and the two hanging down from it is of any indication.. Tenten's safe." Nagato said, tilting his head in a gesturing manner in the general direction of the Gunship high above them. vaguely hinting that they should follow. The man managed to discern enough details of the run-away craft to be certain.

Shepard made a call almost immediately. After having pulled out his own sniper rifle and used it to look closely at the fleeing craft.. indeed seeing Tenten hold onto what looked like a length of chain. A drell seemed to be with her too... the assassin he guessed.. "Joker, initiate emergency launch and come to our coordinates."

"Uh, copy that, Commander. But the tower ain't gonna like it." the helmsman replied, wondering what made the launch of the Normandy a necessity.

Shepard grit his teeth.. "Just launch, quickly! We need the ride!"

"Alright, Commander. On our way!" Tali shot in over the helmsman's shoulder.

"All personnel get ready for takeoff." EDI announced to the crew both inside and outside the ship, causing a great commotion as everyone hurried to their posts.

"We'll be there in a few minutes, Joker out!"

Shepard watched as the Gunship vanished from view.. "Good, hurry."

* * *

"Move it! move it! We got intruders at the first checkpoint!" A Salarian Sentinel shouted to the rest of the Eclipse hurrying alongside him as they passed through the narrow corridors between checkpoints one and two. It was turning to be a bad day, first they helped an Ardat-Yakshi get off-world, then an Asari Justicar showed up in their neighborhood.

And now she's breaking into their headquarters alongside a mysterious individual from the outside. "Checkpoint one, what is your status, over?" he called through the communicator, but got no response. "No answer. Get ready to drive away intruders!" he told his subordinates just as the door ahead exploded. Two Eclipse were killed instantly as the now horribly twisted metal plate that used to be a door rocketed through the air and crushed them by sheer momentum. And from its smoke-filled wake, two individual shadows appeared walking towards them.

The one on the left unmistakably an Asari, practically glowing with her formidable biotics.. Seeing her eyes, filled with fury from her righteous cause, the salarian found no reason in believing there to be any survivors at checkpoint one.

The other one appeared to be more or less the greater unknown, a very tall man – dressed in a long black cloak with red clouds and chin-high collar. Many things about him made several of the mercenaries feel a very cold chill down their spines.. Sporting a shark-like appearance, complete with pale blue skin, small white eyes, gill-like facial structure and sharp triangular teeth. All those details made for a very intimidating opponent. More puzzling is the fact that there's a great amount of water flowing on the floor around him as if living a life of its own. Even more so when they saw him walking on the water's surface. He gave the salarian a very bad feeling, so he did what anyone would do in his position; "Weapons free!" he cried out and raised his gun, an act echoed by all of his comrades as they sought to kill the intruders. But it wasn't going to be easy at all.

Six lost their contact with the floor as the Asari cast them aside with a biotic throw. Their surroundings were a narrow space, but only because of the docks all over the place, vaulting the mercenaries over the edge and sent them plummeting into the depth below. Four tried to scatter, to lessen her biotics' ability to harm them too much at once. The Justicar ducked into cover from the hail of bullets and fired a pair of well placed rounds into one of her opponents, the first collapsed the kinetic barrier, the second penetrated the man's skull.

The rest including the salarian opening fire by all counts against the unknown man only to have him submerge into the floor as if it was made of liquid, the only sign of him being there being the large strange sword he carried, pointing above ground like the dorsal fin of a shark. Then it moved towards them at high speed that made the opposing mercs back away in fright over what they're seeing. But too late, three of them were killed as it made contact, shredding their armor and the bodies underneath all in one go, the shinobi only surfacing once his immediate targets collapsed to the floor, and whirled around with his sword in a single fluid motion, cutting down another trio with sufficient force to send his victims crashing into the closest wall.

"Kill him!" The salarian shouted, firing alongside the four of those remaining to focus on their current target, firing wildly in his general direction. He could faintly see the man smirking as he formed several signs with his hands for no apparent reason.

"Water style: Water shark missile jutsu!" the man called out, and to the mercs rising horror, some of the water rose from the ground and shaped into a shark-like visage, which proceeded to charge at them.. "R-retreat!" the Sentinel shouted right before it struck him, the resulting explosion extending to the others.

"If they continue to prove such easy opponents, I might just grow bored." Kisame whispered gleefully to himself.

"I will not suffer any obstacle between me and my goal, Kisame. But cause suffering beyond necessity and I will find a time to remove you from the world as well." Samara replied, having taken care of the last merc with a biotic pull, and subsequently broke the unfortunate victim's neck.

Kisame chuckled.. "You'd love that wouldn't you?" he asked and hoisted the Samehada onto his back. He originally came here to look for Tenten, but instead found this this alien which those he had asked previously thought he was looking for. Nevertheless, their encounter ended up quite bloodless through mutual confusion. Finding that he might as well have some fun while ahead, he joined the "Justicar" on her hunt for information regarding where her daughter escaped to.

"Let's move on, the Command Center is just ahead." The Asari stated, moving ahead.

Kisame nodded slowly before following, breaking into a run as the two vanished into the next hallway.

* * *

"He did... what?" Mordin asked, disturbed by the implications of this new development. They came here to get Kisame back to the ship and they ended up on the trail of the Justicar listed in the dossier given to Shepard by the Illusive man.

"He said that he came here to bring her out of harms way. But he was last seen assisting her. They went to do some questioning with the Eclipse, I sure hope he'll keep her out of trouble." Detective Anaya replied, confused as to why the old salarian seemed so troubled by the news.

"Wrong person. Wrong person! He looked for a comrade. Not Justicar. Entirely different species."

"You sure about that?"

"Positive. She's a Kalinin. Not Asari. Comrade been found by the Commander. We were sent to retrieve Kisame. Off-track!"

"This is fucked up, we're going after them or not?" Jack asked out of annoyance. "Where did he go?"

The Detective looked to and from them in confusion.. "He went to the Eclipse center of operations, a block north from here. But as long as they're simply going to ask a few questions, they will probably be back here soon."

"That it's going to be a non-violent encounter is extremely unlikely." a woman's voice spoke up.. a layer of paper suddenly detaching from Mordin's and Jack's clothes. The paper scraps whirled around and charged several bunks of paper with Chakra, causing those to follow as well until they gathered together, folded, stacked and formed into the shape of Konan's upper body, hovering a couple of feet off the ground.

"What is this, who are you?" Anaya called out in surprise at the unexpected method of appearance. Many of the other people within the place had either ducked into cover or stared unblinkingly at the one who just appeared.

"Why did you come?" Mordin asked after collecting his composure.

"Kisame is one of my comrades, Nagato told me to follow you with a paper clone."

Jack huffed, unimpressed.. "Go back to to the ship, idiot. We can handle a runaway shark." Konan shot a glare back, which the convict shrugged off. Eventually the woman turned to Anaya.

"Kisame may seem polite, but he's a brutal adversary. That, combined with the Justicar's willingness to get answers at any cost. That's a volatile mix. Chances are, the questioning will turn into a blood bath."

The Detective turned pale. But Konan payed her little further attention.

"In any case, we should go get them now and fast!"

* * *

_This could not get any worse._ Thane thought to himself as he swung around like a rag doll, at the mercy of physics together with that girl above, holding onto the same chain with all his strength. But alas, he had a job to do... his final mission. With that thought, he began to defy the elements and started his climb, careful not to make the girl fall out of balance as he kept climbing, constantly fighting the fierce wind that struck him without mercy... Despite it, up he went.

Tenten watched as he climbed past her and closer to the landing gear, trying to get onto the Gunship. _Madness_, as though hanging down from said Gunship in flight wasn't enough. She focused her Chakra into her palms and legs and began to climb herself, managing to perform better by a hair because of the luxury of having something to help her adhere to the chain. But she begrudgingly regretted not doing much training in exact chakra control. It would have made this easier.

The Drell succeeded in securing finger holds in this deteriorating situation. One mistake and he could end up plummeting to the ground kilometers below. He managed just barely to grab onto the weapons pods and the wing they're attached to when he got to them and slowly climbed onto the wing itself, searching his way towards the cockpit even as the cold wind continued to whip against him. He spared a glance over his shoulder to see if the rifle's still there, feeling some relief that he's not doing this unarmed. But he should not had done that, the ship encountered some turbulence and dropped a very short distance. The man's hand slipped, and his whole life passed before his eyes as he fell. But that was when his left hand got caught by something.

"G-got you!" Tenten yelled, her mouth filling with the cold wind that continuously blasted past them. The girl managed barely to pull the Drell back to the Gunships hull. With a hasty nod of gratitude from Thane, they started climbing towards the cockpit itself.

The mercenaries inside looked about, confused at the occasional metallic thump against the craft's armor. Nassana felt no more at ease with the situation. Talyana was staring into thin air as she lost herself in thought. Then suddenly a voice came over the intercom.. "Talyana, ma'am. You need to see this!" the pilots astonished voice reached her ears.

Talyana got up and hurried as much as she could, traversing through the short distance between herself and the cockpit.. and once there, she came to stare at something she thought impossible. The intruders she saw earlier had reappeared before them, right outside the canopy. The Drell drew his weapon forth. "Bank left, throw them off!"

The Gunship took a sharp turn.. Tenten in her surprise lost her grip and fell off, prompting the Drell to forget about shooting and threw himself, despite the overwhelming danger involved in such an act.. and managed just barely to grab her ankle. The end result being both hanging off the ship by the fragile hold of Thane's previously free hand. "If you got more chains, now would be a good time!" he mouthed in the girl's general direction. Nodding, she understood.

The kunoichi brought up the scroll she most recently used... still unfurled, shooting three lengths of chains out of it as she released the seals. Two circled on opposite sides of the ship and managed to hook up with one another.. the third fell away and out of sight. Talyana and the pilots stared at the chain that had somehow appeared before their eyes, crunching against the armored glass panels. Tenten pressed their desperate advantage and grabbed hold, same did the Drell once the girl had gotten a good handhold. And as one they climbed back onto the Gunship on either side. It veered side to side in a bid to throw them off again, but this time the two intruders had themselves secured.

Thane raised his sniper rifle and aimed straight at the pilot who now screamed with fright and rage as he started to open fire fire with several successive rounds in attempt to break through the canopy itself.

* * *

Nagato wasn't exactly pleased, the ship just could not get to his Deva Path's location fast enough. He was staring through the Path's eyes at the situation as it continued to unfold at the collapsed Dantius tower. He dispelled his Chibaku Tensei a while ago, causing the tower it held up to come crashing down upon the lower part, crushing both into a massive twisted pile of metal, plastic and glass. The second tower was also heavily damaged by this. No doubt it will take a long time to restore it.

Now the area surrounding the disaster area had been filled with fire teams, ambulances and a great number of police and military forces.. several Military personnel that right now are in the process of interrogating the three about this situation since they were practically found on the very first row to the disaster.

All three sat at the same location, the same vehicle.. with the interrogators surrounding them on all sides. Incessantly asking questions related to the incident.

"As I just told you. I am Commander John Shepard, Citadel Specter. We were investigating the scene when the estate collapsed. It was evident that there have been extensive battles between Eclipse mercenaries hired by Nassana Dantius and assassins that were sent by unknown parties. The former of which caused the deaths of many of her employees." Shepard was taking the lead in answering the questions put forth against them. He could of said that Nagato's at fault. But right now he felt more concerned towards protecting the Kalinin from potential threats.

"That's indeed what happened. Alas we need to leave now. We're in range." Deva Path simply stated, ignoring the stares he received. Until all three suddenly vanished in a great puff of smoke that obscured the immediate area.

"Welcome back Shepard." Tali greeted as the Commander alongside Miranda and Deva Path appeared right behind the Normandy's cockpit, courtesy of Animal Path.

Shepard nodded to the Quarian.. "We need to follow Tenten, do you have clear readings as to her location?"

There was an awkward silence as both EDI and Tali visibly tried to get the first word in.. the AI won the race.. "Yes. We just managed to detect her Chakra readings above the city." she displayed a hologram indicating a Mantis Gunship.. and a three dimensional city map, with a dot displaying it's location. The Quarian stood there giving the AI a withering death-glare.

Shepard nodded.. "Joker, pursue but do not destroy. We'll intercept them as they land!"

* * *

"I am a biotic god... fear me!" the round little Volus Nifty Cal uttered, making a sweeping gesture while surrounded by the blue aura that biotics usually emit when about to deploy their abilities. Close to him, Samara and Kisame stared down at him, completely dumbfounded... particularly the latter.

"Kami, this is pathetic. I should put this guy out of his misery." Kisame growled, almost visibly in grave pain as he tried to resist the urge to shred the little creature into pieces.

The Justicar shook her head.. "He's merely a misguided innocent."

"Guilty of annoying me. Punishment is death, I'll feed it to Samehada. Any objections?"

"You will up living in regret from your actions. Unless of course I kill you for your wrongdoings."

"My hands are stained already... I can live with a grain of regret."

"Kisame! ... What are you doing?" A familiar voice spoke to him from behind.

"Oh hell. Konan." Kisame sighed.. turning to see the woman as she hovered in the form of a paper clone as she usually does. "A win-win situation. I get to have some fun and she gets information about her _lovely_ daughter's location."

"That's not the point! We only managed to find you by following the corpses you've left in your wake-"

"So you like my work?" the man shrugged with a sneer.

"What, no! Why did you not tell anyone before you came here in the first place?"

"Alright, I'm sorry." Kisame replied, displaying an obviously fake expression of remorse for his actions. "But I was getting tired of being cooped up in that small ship."

The woman shook her head in frustration.. "We all are. But lest you forget, this whole galaxy is completely unknown to us. The possible dangers may be more numerous than the stars in the sky."

"Which is why we should go out and discover the limits. Surely you must have thought about that." Kisame replied sharply.

"Pardon me, but I do not have time for this. Will you join us in our hunt or hamper our efforts?" Samara shot in, her eyes tense.

Konan finally diverted her attention towards the asari and blinked in response. In a moment she shifted her eyes to the roof in thought just as the rest finally managed to catch up with them.

"There you are. Return to Normandy. Orders!" Mordin said first chance he got.

"Great, a lot of running and no fucking action. Waste of my time." Jack noted in irritation. Samara, Konan and Mordin glanced at her. The Biotic volus apparently forgotten, still going about his rambling about his ascension to godhood.

The Justicar turned to leave.. not finding any reason to wait any longer. The more time wasted, the less likely she'll be able to find the information she desires. Kisame looked from Samara and to Konan and shook his head before joining the asari on the path forward. Konan cursed in a whisper.

"To hell with it. Let's go help them out, the sooner we get this done.. the quicker we'll get back." Jack said and follow the two, knocking out Nifty Cal with a offhand slap along the way.

Konan's paper clone dispersed into a cloud of flowing paper as she followed them in.

Mordin found himself staring at the others blankly before following, muttering a few phrases filled with scientific jargon related to biological functions that none of the others understood.

They all wandered through another clean corridor, the amount of sanitation on this world astounded the Shinobi. Back on their home world, people did not usually clean buildings beyond necessity.. some dust and bacteria could not possibly be harmful. Konan found out that some people on the Normandy are allergic to various things, and that allergy in general are quite common. It shows that being too clean could affect the immune system negatively. She could not find a reason to argue about the aesthetic value of a clean environment though.

Beyond the corridor lay a vast storehouse filled with equipment as well as a makeshift office in the far end of it, where a dark purple-skinned asari with red face markings stood. She drank some kind of liquid while reading a data pad she held before her. It took a short moment before she noticed the intruders.

Captain Wasea, stunned by the arrival of such an odd bunch of misfits.. none of them were wearing any kind of common mark of allegiance except two with long cloaks adorned with red clouds... one which looked completely alien and the other did not seem like she's even there. Overall, she quickly turned to a computer and turned the alarm on, calling for backup. "First an accursed Ardat-Yakshi, then this?" she mouthed with a clear sign of distaste as she hefted her massive M-300 Claymore. A massive number of footsteps could also be heard. Clearly signaling that a battle's imminent.

* * *

The Gunship had lowered it's altitude greatly, now flying in between the buildings. The amount of available flight space becoming sharply limited as a result. Plenty of activity filled this part of the city just like the rest of Nos Astra, a few of the civilians below gazing up at the Mantis Gunship as it passed overhead... one particular Turian got knocked out cold by a spent thermal clip that dropped from the Gunship as the craft passed by at a dangerously high velocity despite the narrow space around it. All below could only gaze in horror as there appeared to be a Drell sitting on his knees on top of the craft's canopy, continually expending available thermal clips as he unloaded bullets into the panel. Though he was getting really close to penetrating it. The pilot inside kept trying to throw him and the girl with him off the ride.. however, a deliberate shot at one of the wing-mounted weapons finally discouraged the pilot from doing that again. Instead making a beeline at full speed towards the main base, and thus get the help needed to kill the pests once and for all.

Destroying the canopy with an explosive tag would have been easier, but such an action could end up killing them too. And what's left of her Chakra's being used to keep herself and Thane attached to their ride. "Come on, do it already!" she cried out in exasperation.

"Trying, the Incisor was not made for such armored targets! Just hold on a little more!" Thane responded as loudly and calmly as he could muster in this stressful situation. He ejected another clip and inserted a new one, shooting the canopy with a duo of bursts before pausing to let the rifle cool down before resuming. This repeating effort took a serious toll on the canopy, and cracks in it become more prominent as the effort continued. He looked indirectly at Talyana when she retrieved a gun, and aimed it at him in case he did make it through. "My last mission." he repeated to himself and pulled the trigger again, six bullets struck the canopy.. the last three managed that which all the previous rounds could not, punching a tiny hole through the panel to the horror of those inside. "Got it, a moment!"

"Look out!" Tenten cried out as Talyana pulled the trigger, unloading several bullets into the hole.. expanding it with the risk of giving Thane a clear shot, but chose to take the initiative and try to kill him before the Drell kill their pilot. Tenten managed just barely to throw herself forward and push the Drell out of the way of the bullet trajectory, and got hit in her shoulder in the process, on the way to tumble off the ship.

"No." he called out, watching Tenten fall to the ground, which wasn't that far below the ship at this point as the craft was making its final approach. The base being right ahead. Without the Kalinin, he quickly lost his foothold, and with a measure of desperation, he aimed a final series of bullets at the canopy, at the weak spot he managed to form, with some unwanted help from the mercenary within. Two shots went wild, the third struck the pilot within. More did he not see as he fell and landed on the ground below, the speedy landing causing him to roll through a panicked crowd, forty feet ahead of Tenten's position. The girl had fainted from the bullet wound and the additional injuries caused by her rough landing.

With the pilot badly injured, the Gunship nosed over and skidded into the ground.. the great shopping crowds parting before it. Its wings getting ripped off by the impact as the Gunship fell on its side and rolled across the long street before hitting the wall of the Eclipse HQ.. just a couple of dozen feet below their designated landing pad. The air was filled with the stench of fire as the craft burned in several places from the damage it now sported. The street left ruined in it's wake.

Thane tried to get up, but failed. It felt as though every muscle screamed at him during the attempt. He carried a fair number of injuries, including a couple of broken ribs, and slipped in and out of consciousness. The Drell spared one last pained glance at the burning wreck.. He focused with some effort as the craft's ruined hatch was kicked open.. from which a gravely injured Talyana climbed out, dragging Nassana out along with her, who had sustained similar injuries, but less so than the mercenary. Groaning in apparent defeat, he fainted.

Just as the Drell had dropped unconscious. The landing pad above exploded.

* * *

"This will the last I can contribute for now." Konan told Kisame. She had managed to form a separate paper clone, and hurled it at the lines of Eclipse Commandos before them.. filled with exploding tags, it fitted quite well into the role of performing a kamikaze run. The explosion was extensive, but lacking in results.. only about five of the asari Commandos before them got taken out of the fight. The rest emerging largely unscathed. But others began to fall under the combined fire from Samara, Mordin and Jack.

Kisame stayed in cover together with Konan.. with the powers of Samehada, he could probably had waded through the gunfire without too much of a hassle. But the sword only heals the wounds, but can't remove the bullets, making surgery a necessity. So he played it safe and kept his head down. "Alright, I'll see you later."

Konan nodded as the paper clone with which she was communicating through dispersed from its Chakra running out.. "Stay safe, we'll be there within a few minutes."

With a brutal gesture, Jack forced a biotic pull to force mercenaries with shields down away from their cover.. allowing Mordin to execute them effectively with a plasma bolt from his omni-tool, incinerating and killing the targets on the spot.

"Not too shabby, these aliens." Kisame laughed softly as he watched the efforts made by the others. "I won't lose to them." he put his palms against each other in preparations for a Jutsu.

Jack, who was closest, turned towards Kisame as she ducked behind cover and witnessed the Shinobi sinking into the ground as if it's water, and with only the tip of Samehada sticking from the ground. She watched as it moved, circling around the obstacles on the way to avoid raising suspicion... speeding up significantly only after he had cleared most of the things in the way and rushed towards the most available line of mercenaries, and smashed aside their cover, throwing those closest to him with the resulting watery explosion. Kisame only rose up from the floor once he had gotten himself behind another crate, this time behind enemy lines. Those that remained of the Eclipse turned their guns on him, shooting away at his cover relentlessly in an effort to break it apart and force their target out in the open.

However, with a quick Incinerate, three of them got themselves torched for standing out like that by the salarian professor who, with cold calculation, chose the weak spot opened by Kisame to spear head an assault aimed at breaking the enemy line. Samara and Jack quickly formed up behind Mordin. The four remaining Commandos in the great opening were caught from behind and all of them got gunned down in rapid succession.

"Fall back!" Captain Wasea called out.. "Back to the landing pad!" the remaining Eclipse ran up the short flight of stairs together, a few lagging behind only to spray the immediate scene with gunfire to suppress pursuers.

"Like I'd let you!" Kisame shouted as he stood up, his hands together forming a series of hand signs, only to be brought short. He lost contact with the ground and crashed hard against the wall behind him. It was a strange sensation, he felt very much powerless in a greatly important moment, as if he had no physical contact with anything, and could not move very well at all. The Shinobi coughed up blood once he slid down to the ground and finally felt a few pellets having penetrated his abdomen. Gritting his teeth in pain, he looked up at the asari Captain who sported a cruel grin as she retreated up the stairs.. "Grr, damn you!" he groaned, the sword's spikes extending enough to pierce his skin, healing up his wounds in short order.. but with the shotgun pellets stuck inside him, moving about was painful. "I'll get you for that!"

"We must not let them escape!" Samara called out as she moved forward, her pistol raised high as she pursued the fleeing Eclipse. Jack quickly moved to follow the Justicar, while Mordin ran over to Kisame to check up on his wounds, only stopping once the man waved him away. He appreciated the gesture, but didn't need it. Instead urging for Mordin to back up the others. Something which the salarian only reluctantly agreed to.

Gunfire filled the air as the Justicar got to the top of the stairs.. but she did not let such a situation faze her. The Justicar threw herself sidewards while using a biotic throw to send one of the tables which the mercenaries were using as cover flying, knocking away several of her adversaries in the process and left them wide open for subsequent assaults as the others joined in to assist. Jack followed up quickly with a Shockwave, launching several more of them up into the air. Seeing no reason to hold back, Mordin threw in a Cryo blast, freezing solid a few whos kinetic barriers had dropped, and shattering shortly after once the Salarian provided them with a bullet each.

The firefight continued, and the Eclipse were fighting harder than ever, actively dodging and taking pot shots whenever possible, exceedingly careful to avoid casualties. Samara knocked over a metal table and used it as cover alongside her newly found comrades. That it stood in a corner helped to avoid getting flanked. A necessity due to their lower numbers compared to that of the mercenaries.

But suddenly, the floor shook violently, the noise from a distant explosion reaching the ears of those involved in the fight. The battle stopped for a few seconds as all those present tried to make sense of what just happened, but it only took a moment before the fighting resumed.

Kisame himself descended into another _Underground submarine voyage jutsu_, observing the battle while waiting for an opportunity, only the upper half of his head stuck up from the floor as he did not want to get shot again.. It's hard enough moving around as it is. But one thing caught his attention, a large ship appeared in the distance far beyond the landing pad... it looked like the Normandy. "It's here?" he asked no one in particular. "Oh well.." initiating a series of hand seals as he ascended from the floor, drawing the attention of the enemy. The Captain especially aimed to put him down for good. But none of them managed to shoot him in time as the Jutsu activated.

"Water style: Exploding water shock wave!"

The man poured out a gigantic quantity of water out of his mouth, enough to very quickly build up a massive tidal wave that raced against the mercenaries' position. "I-impossible!" was all the Captain managed to utter before she got caught by the waves alongside her subordinates and were washed away across the pad that led outside and over the edge.. all the dozen remaining mercenaries plus the Captain falling to the streets below. Several of them managed to avoid getting hurt thanks to their biotics.. most only got injuries from the fall, but a few of them severely.

The technique filled the district with water to the confusion of civilians present as they watched the situation develop with disbelief. Kisame limped towards the edge, cursing the pellets still lodged inside his abdomen. The rest got there in much less time, gazing at the wreck of the Gunship, obviously the cause of the explosion they heard earlier. The washed up Eclipse surrounded it.. the few that recovered the quickest rushed over to assist Talyana and her client, Nassana.

Kisame however looked up at the Normandy, and faintly saw the girl Tenten lying on the street much further away from the crash.. wounded and unconscious from the looks of it. The Kodiak left the ship's hangar, not landing as much as it was skidding across the ground and almost straight out ejected it's passengers onto the scene. He could see Nagato's Deva and Asura Path. Konan, not a clone this time. That Garrus fellow and Tali, Miranda and lastly Commander Shepard himself who quickly took point. A sharp gasp could be heard throughout the street, an especially loud one from Nassana.

"Shepard? But you're dead!" Nassana gasped in disbelief, momentarily forgetting her wounds and all the chaos surrounding her.

Said Commander shrugged.. "I got better."

Asura Path knelt down by Tenten and examined her.. "She's alive, but requires medical attention. This one will have to be summoned up to the ship right away."

"Don't forget this guy. Matches the dossier, we need him alive." Garrus notified the Path accordingly as the Turian knelt down to carefully pick the unconscious Thane off the ground and carried him to Asura who quickly took over. "Go, we'll mop up this area."

"Got it." Asura Path replied, vanishing with his charges with a puff of smoke.

"Kisame..." Deva Path mumbled slowly as he looked up towards the landing pad and seeing the comrade standing there alongside the crew members that had been sent to find him.. along with a newly acquainted.

Tali offered her input quite fast about that one.. "I believe that one up there may be the Justicar described in the dossier, Shepard."

"Yeah..." the Commander replied, for now he directed his attention solidly towards Nassana and the others, all not quite sure what to do in this situation.

"What are you waiting for? Gun them down!" Captain Wasea snapped at her subordinates and opened fire. Talyana quickly stepping in front of her client to protect her.

But those who now surrounded them were one step ahead, anticipating the hostile response. Several bullets struck the Quarian's kinetic barrier, but did not do much to deplete it, she had already deployed an energy drain via her omni-tool that sucked energy out of the mercenaries suits, decreasing their defensive capabilities in the process.

Shepard sidestepped from the initial volley, a great adrenalin rush washing over his body as he brandished his M-15 Vindicator and planted a trio of rounds into the chest of his first target. With weakened shields, he didn't have any difficulty shooting down the target, and he immediately turned his attention to the next target, squeezing the trigger accordingly. No fancy shooting, no priced head shots, standard procedure. He simply shot at the center of the mass. Nothing more, nothing less.

Garrus joined the fight alongside the Commander.. the Turian providing backup as he pulled up his current weapon of choice; the M-92 Mantis. An odd choice to deploy such a precision weapon at such a short range. But he aimed directly for the target who's death could mean the end of Eclipse on Illium as an organized force, their Captain. He squeezed the trigger once, waited a moment to let the weapon cool down before firing again. However, both bullets simply bounced off. Wasea possessed an impressive biotic barrier protecting her from harm. In the mean time, he quickly retreated behind cover as soon as he came under fire.

But overall, the crossfire from the opponents that had surrounded them sharply cut down their numbers as they were torn to shreds by a lethal mix of gunfire, biotic and tech attacks. Miranda herself had gotten back into the Kodiak to give those up on the landing pad a lift down to the scene below. They all nodded with their thanks to the gesture while the fight continued below. Samara in particular, seeing the information she desired the most within hands reach, including one of the greatest villains on Illium cowering before the onslaught. Kisame took no further part in the fight, unable to fight any further this day.

"Stay the hell away!" Talyana yelled as she glowed with biotic power and threw Shepard away once he came too close for comfort. She urged Nassana to begin her retreat while the mercenary provided covering fire.

"Since you played a hand in injuring one of the last hopes of my race. I'll be your opponent." Konan uttered with clear menace as she faced off against Talyana, who quickly retaliated.. bullets having seemingly little effect as the target's body seemed to be literally made of hundreds of sheets of paper, much to Talyana's astonishment. Konan hovered high in the air above, great wings of paper adding to her appearance. Giving her the appearance of some sort of a celestial being.. "You will be punished."

The Asari refused to back down though, initiating a biotic throw in defiance as Konan launched a large number of paper shuriken's at Talyana, managing to negate the incoming attack completely as a contest of power raged between the kunoichi and the Biotic.

Likewise occurred as Samara leaped down from the Kodiak and joined battle against the Eclipse Captain. Biotic powers clashing to the point of forming a singularity between them, ceasing the regular flow of gravity around them as objects, corpses and people alike began to hover, or in the case of those closest, began to whirl around them.

"It's time to end this.." Deva Path uttered calmly as he waded into the biotic crossfire, standing besides Samara. "Shinra Tensei."

Captain Wasea possessed an impressive amount of power in her biotics, but her surprise was immediate when another stranger wearing an identical suit to that of the blue skinned one wandered into her vision and added his attack to Samara's. For a moment she struggled against what the man deployed against her.. It did not appear to be biotic in origin at all. The Jutsu overwhelmed her within the next moment and blasted her away, her data pad dropping from her suit as she violently impacted with the wreck behind her with sufficient force to let her see the goddess as her spirit departed from this world.

Samara offered no attention to the indifferent Deva Path as she took a solemn look at the Captain's corpse before kneeling down to pick up the data pad, revealing the ship of her daughters location as the AML Demeter quickly enough before all the water flooding the scene finally caused the device to short out. With that out of the way, she discarded the data pad and turned her attention to Nassana.. One brutal biotic pull and the business woman found herself flying towards the Justicar.

"N-no, please don't!" the business woman begged as the Justicar seized her by the neck. Talyana let her guard down momentarily as her attention got drawn towards where Nassana had suddenly ended up, providing Konan with the opening to finish her off, shredding her body apart with a flurry of paper shurikens. The mercenary offered little but a gasp as she found herself on the distant shores.

"... Find peace in the embrace of the Goddess." Samara spoke in a solemn manner before she ended the corrupt business woman's life, by breaking her neck and cast the body aside.

Fifteen minutes quickly passed, rescue teams filled the area to tend to the wounded.. the Police to capture the mercs whom still lived. Gradually the area slowly turned back to normal, except the damage would still need to be repaired. The extended group regrouped to enter the Kodiak, preparing to leave before anyone gets the idea in their minds to try and interrogate them.

"I have heard much of your prowess, miss Samara." Shepard offered his compliments.. "And I see they are as true as it can get."

"I do what is necessary." the Asari replied, her eyes fixed on the sky.

Shepard smiled as he tried to figure out the best approach, considering the situation.. "My crew's going up against the Collectors." A nod from the woman in acknowledgment.. "And I'm gathering the best to fight against them, I could use someone like you on the team."

"Yes. The Collectors are a formidable enemy, I would relish to test my skill against them." Samara noted, the faintest sign of a smile on her face, though a highly serious one. "I will assist you, but only if you offer your assistance in turn."

The Commander gave a polite nod.. "Of course." He was curious about what she needed help for, but as long as he'd earn her full commitment to the cause, he'd walk through fire if necessary.

The Kodiak slowly lifted off, heading back towards the Normandy. But the only one who payed attention to Shepard's and the Justicar's conversation was Deva Path.. Nagato felt that the time ahead could be bad for him and his comrades. The last thing he desired was to be put on the front lines for a cause he saw no reason to partake in.

Nagato back in the ship gazed at the infirmary, through the windows he could see the youngsters. One wounded by the events that had just taken place, and the two others who both sat next to the bed, caring for their friend. The man narrowed his eyes and directed his gaze back down at the table, deep in thought. For now, he could only wait and see what the future brings.


	7. Chapter 7

His eyes flashed open, the memories he carried up to the point before he fainted flashing before his vision before being even aware of his current location. 'I failed'.. he thought gravely.

His final job and he failed it. Perhaps it's fate. Did Nassana get away? Thane wasn't sure. The Asari sported a great many wounds by the time she got pulled out of the wreckage of the Gunship. Of that, he felt certain.

A young fighter was with him also, looked Human, but wasn't. His thoughts strayed as some pain shot through his body and the Drell slowly became aware of his presence in a hospital bed, surrounded by equipment. The room seemed silent as a tomb, until voices penetrated his dazed train of thought.

The Drell tilted his head to the side and the first thing he saw appeared to be the same very same girl he fought alongside with against Nassana, whom slept on the neighboring bed, a few people surrounding her. The closest being a somewhat elderly Human doctor from the looks of it. The other looked like teenagers, both looking over Tenten. A boy... wearing black and orange suit, messy spiky yellow hair.

The other one was a girl with dark blue hair, a large blue and white colored jacket.. the most prominent feature being her almost entirely pale white eyes except for a hint of lavender. Thane focused his gaze as he noticed the veins that bulged near her temples. She seemed to be pressing her hands against Tenten's shoulders for some reason. He shifted his gaze downwards and finally noticed.

He could see some odd green glow surrounding her hands. 'What is that?' he asked himself, but whatever it was, it did not seem to hurt the girl under her care. On the contrary, she seemed very healthy for someone who had crashed into the street previously at such a great speed.

Deeming himself finished in assessing his surroundings, he tried to speak; "Hello... ?"

"Ah, your finally awake?" the Doctor asked as she turned to look him over.. "You got away from that accident quite well. A few scrapes and internal injuries. But you'll make a full recovery within a couple of weeks." she did not hesitate to notify her patient.. "Commander, he's awake." she spoke into the nearby intercom.

The Drell tilted his head at that, though he did appreciate having been taken care of. But otherwise he said nothing. Only listened as the male one of the teenagers spoke up.

"Why, Tenten? Why did you have to get yourself into such trouble, why?" he uttered in a fashion of despair.

"Um, she's still asleep, Naruto." The girl answered sheepishly.

Naruto groaned.. "I already know that, Hinata. I'm just rehearsing!" he let out a long sigh as he calmed down.. "The wound all cleared up?"

"Just a little more." Hinata replied.. She had been one of many that had taken classes in medical jutsu as the war escalated to help minimizing casualties. So far, healing Tenten's gun wound went well. Dislodging the bullet itself proved to be the most difficult part. The other injuries did not prove to be much trouble however.

"Maybe you should let me slap on some medigel." Chakwas suggested, but received an unexpectedly stern gaze from the Hyuga as a result just as she finished up closing the wound, the Doctor winced involuntarily at being subjected to the Byakugan so suddenly. Being gazed at directly by someone with the Byakugan felt very much like being pierced down to ones very soul. Hinata turned slowly back to pull the bed sheet up to Tenten's neck. Letting out a sigh of relief at a job well done.

"She'll be fine. At least the old farts blood pressure can go down now." Naruto added, thinking back to the old Tsuchikage's shock upon hearing that Tenten had gone and gotten herself injured. But now for now, the old man's having a meeting with Nagato and Konan in the crew's quarter. The boy did not know exactly what they were talking about, other than that it implied that trouble's ahead. It was then that the door slid open, allowing entrance to the Commander of the Normandy.

"Glad to see you're doing well, considering the circumstances. If only we met on a better time and place." Shepard commented, his attention focused on Thane.

"You are.. Commander Shepard, from the Systems Alliance, Citadel Spectre." Thane half asked. The first Human Spectre had made quite a name for himself throughout the galaxy.

Shepard stood relaxed.. "The same.. You're currently not on Illium, you're on board my ship, the Normandy. I came to Illium to enlist you to our cause."

That explained the sensations he got when he woke up.. "What about Nassana?"

"Dead, she and the rest of the local Eclipse were wiped out by us and the other person we came to Illium to enlist. The Justicar who are now with us delivered the killing blow." Shepard explained.

"Then... my work wasn't entirely in vain." Thane whispered to myself. "This was to be my last job... I'm dying."

"Are you contagious?" Shepard asked, sounding worried that it might either be dangerous to the crew or severely hinder the Drell's ability to fight.

Thane performed what sounded like a chuckle... it sounded as dry as a desert.. "The problem isn't contagious. And it won't affect my work." he replied flatly before he proceeded to get to the very core of the conversation.. "You mentioned a cause."

"We're going after the Collectors. And for that I have been scouring the galaxy for the best. And we could really use you're help in bringing them down."

"Attacking the Collectors would require passing through the Omega 4 relay. No one has ever returned from doing so." Thane replied.. acting on what knowledge he possess about those elusive aliens. Naruto looked up at that, curiosity lighting up in his eyes... but his expression was filled with concern. Hinata did not react any better to that information, though she hid her expression quickly. They did not have much knowledge about the relays at all, but they got the basic gist of it by now.

"I never said it's going to be easy, and it just might end up as a suicide mission. But I don't intend for us to fail." Shepard replied, unknowing that the word 'suicide' opened a black pit at the bottom of the Kalinin's guts... suddenly it became pretty obvious why their leadership figures started their meeting in the first place.

Thane accepted to join Shepard's crew shortly after, their discussion continued for a while after. Only interruption came when Konan stepped in.. "Is she awake yet?"

Hinata shook her head.

The older Kunoichi sighed.. "Alright. Hinata, Naruto. You should go to the crews quarter, now." she said, a suggestion delivered with the force of an order. The teenagers stood up in rapt attention.

"Yes!" they both hollered at the same time and marched out of the room. Konan headed out as soon as the teens had left, and went to the elevator.. intending to spread the word. There were other reasons for the meeting other than the mission that the crew of this ship are so willing to embark on, if it haven't already begun. But as she inspected the elevator buttons... trying to think of where the others went. But before Konan could press the designated button, Miranda intercepted the Kunoichi.

"Hello, are Nagato available for a little meeting?" she asked with a gentle smile.

Konan rolled her eyes.. "No, the others are in the middle of something right now.. what do you want?"

"I was curious as to your worlds past history. Particularly the legend which have been mentioned by you're leader, Onoki."

"You're referring to the story about the Sage of the Six paths?" the Kunoichi asked, tilting her head slightly.

"You know it?" Miranda asked, her eyes lighting up.. "Care to share it with me if Nagato's occupied?"

Konan scrutinized the woman intensely, the other woman did not even budge.. "I guess it can't hurt anyone if Onoki thought it's alright for us to talk about it." she said finally, reluctantly at that.

"Excellent, would you follow me to my office then?" Miranda lightened up even further and lead Konan to her office not far away. Konan following slowly, wondering if telling this operative about the legend could potentially harm them in any way, momentarily unsure.

* * *

In the crews quarter, Naruto and Hinata stood before the table on the other side of a series of bunks, bowing down slightly before they took their seats before Onoki and Nagato.. both teens looking at the elders worryingly.

"I take it that you've picked up that our gracious hosts are getting set to throw themselves off the galactic bridge?" the elderly Tsuchikage asked, hitting the bulls-eye as the teens quickly began to look depressed.

"I have been asking around, and judging by the state of things. The time they cross that metaphorical bridge is close at hand. We just don't know exactly when." Nagato replied with a heavy sigh.." Konan are out to tell the others. What you two need to know are that you will not put yourselves in danger on behalf of Shepard or his crew under any circumstances! We'll be leaving this ship at first ideal opportunity."

Naruto bristled at the order while Hinata remained motionless, her skin a little pale.

"It's not easy to abandon our saviors like that. But those of us whom are on this ship are the last of our kind, and we could have lost Tenten during the latest engagement. Survival will have to come first!" Onoki continued like a general, staring the youngsters down. "Do you understand."

Both nodded, at which the elder exhaled with something akin to relief. "And that leads us to the other important reason that we needed to bring you here!" Nagato told them, narrowing his eyes... and to the surprise of the teens, his eyes tried and failed to hide the slight embarrassment he felt.

"Basically, we need to consider the future of our species. And the simplest." the last word which he coughed at.. "Is to begin consideration towards reproducing. Understand?"

Naruto and Hinata flashed deep red instantly.

"Towards that end, we have decided that you are an assigned couple. Marriage details will come later." Onoki said, chuckling a little. "Though, depending on future considerations, we may have to assign Tenten to you as well." Naruto's cheeks just got all the redder.

"Um, w-why's that?" Hinata stuttered.. she could deal with becoming a wife already, but to become one of two spouses. She needed a bit of an explanation.

"Nagato have been assigned to Konan.." Onoki said, frowning ever so slightly at said man's sudden awkwardness. "But he'll have to get on a reverse diet.. put on some weight. Right now he's almost all bones." he continued before Nagato stepped in, recollecting enough of himself to get to the point.

"Onoki's too old. Hidan's a madman. Kisame's... a... mutant." Nagato summed up... and elsewhere around the ship, Hidan and Kisame suddenly sneezed. "So... no pressure. But try and get the... hmm, mating done within a couple of years from now on." the man continued, seemingly on the verge of losing his cool.

The teens fell completely silent. Onoki got off his chair and wandered out of the room in short order, deep in thought. Nagato wanted to add some reassuring words for placing such a burden on them.. but such things are best left to Konan, he believed. Thus Nagato remained silent as well.

* * *

Konan sat down on the first chair that she could get to while Miranda went and sat behind her desk, keeping a smug grin as she picked up a data pad and tapped in a few commands under the Kunoichi's stoic gaze. "Now then, shall we begin? What do you know of this Sage of the Six Paths."

It took a few seconds before Konan replied.. "Only what Nagato have told me. He's the one that founded the Shinobi world as we know it, and the creator and first user of modern Ninjutsu. He's the first Shinobi. And the first Jinchuriki."

"You have any specific details about him?" Miranda asked, intrigued.

"He was a priest, he lived long ago in an age of endless war. He's the one who explained the truth about Chakra, and used that power to try and bring peace to the world by spreading his ideas and and religion, the Shinobi Sect. Which eventually became known as Ninjutsu." Konan explained.. "He eventually became known as the Savior of this World."

"So it isn't merely a legend?"

"To some it's just a fairy tale... a myth. But he existed. He possessed the Rinnegan. The fact that Nagato now possess the Rinnegan is the proof of his existence."

Miranda thought that to be greatly intriguing.. "I guess the legend describes more than just his life?"

"He used his power and wisdom to bring about peace instead of war. But it also tells of the time when he defeated the Jubi, the most powerful demon in the world."

"Wait, hold on. Demon you said?" Miranda blinked as she leaned forward, disbelieving, but interested in any case. Believing at first that there must be some kind of weapon on Kalin 3 which the Kalinin did not understand.

Konan simply nodded.. "The Ten-tailed beast. But it proved impossible to destroy outright. So he sealed it away inside himself and became the first Jinchuriki." she raised an eyebrow at Miranda's gaze of disbelief. "Because of this feat, and the powers gained from doing so, he was praised as a god."

Again, very interesting. The Operative carried the impression that the god thing's merely an exaggeration. "What happened after that?"

"He found out that peace would not come to the world in his life time.. and he knew that the Ten-tails would escape from him eventually the moment he dies from old age. So on his death-bed he took several measures for the future. He split the Ten-tails Chakra into nine independent pieces. And then sealed away the body of the Ten-tails within a prison that he created for it and lifted it to where no one would ever manage to reach. That prison became the moon."

Miranda's expression burned into a blank stare as she thought back on their time approaching Kalin 3. About the moon orbiting it... she tried to form the words that matched her thoughts. "W-wait, he created the moon? That can't be right."

"Being the Jinchuriki of the Ten-tails, he came in the possession of godlike powers. You have already seen the technique used by Nagato.. the same which the Sage used to create the moon. Chibaku Tensei."

The Operatives thoughts was immediately taken back to the event at the Dantius twin towers.. giving her enough fuel for the fire to start believing what the woman had told her.. "No wonder it was regarded as a fairy tale." she finally replied with a calculating gaze focused on the Kunoichi.

Konan nodded passively.. "He had two sons that would carry out his dream. Conflicts arose, but the clans founded by those two eventually brought about the foundation of the Hidden village of Konohagakure no sato along with many other clans within the Land of Fire. Clans of other nations followed suit and founded hidden villages of their own. It is impossible to exaggerate the Sage's effect on the course of our world's development."

Miranda rubbed her own forehead as she leaned back on her chair to think.. "What of the pieces of this so-called Ten-tails? What are they?"

Konan talked freely, but the questions from there began to delve into details of the story which struck her as odd. And eventually, she began to feel like something's off when she began inquiring deeply about the fragments of the Ten-tails. Konan replied, but Miranda seemed much too interested. Almost to the point of obsession. Trying to squeeze her dry of all information concerning the Tailed beasts. A bad sign. "I apologize, but I got some business that needs to be taken care of." Konan told the woman, turning down further questions with that.

"... Alright." Miranda felt set to push her for the answers, but judged that to be unwise. Either way, Shepard would not be happy if he caught wind of what she intended to do with all this information. "You may leave then. Thank you for your time."

Konan gave a curt nod before she turned and left the office within the next few seconds.

The Operative smiled to herself and compiled all which she had learned from the Kalinin up to this point. The devices attached to Hidan did not deliver any good readings yet, but at this point it hardly mattered anymore.

She opened a channel.. "EDI, relay this report to the Illusive man immediately." she hesitated a little before finally sending it, but even though the Kalinin have suffered so much, Miranda decided that Humanity must come first.

The AI gave a curt confirmation as soon as the report had been sent.. "Is there anything else I can assist with?"

"That will be all." Miranda replied and turned away from her desk.. It's a slight pity, but the Illusive man probably won't allow the Kalinin to wander around freely for much longer. All the secrets that could be learned. All the power that could be gained. Super soldiers, better Biotics. Who knew what else. It could put Humanity far ahead of the other races. If there remained any sympathy for them, she put it away onto a high shelf out of reach. "Sorry about this, almighty Sage." she whispered into thin air... "But your people will serve the ambitions of Cerberus now!"

* * *

Note: Yes, I know it's not possible for a species to survive with such few numbers. Maybe they don't know that. And if they do know, they want to give it a try anyways in the hopes of succeeding.


	8. Chapter 8

The air felt tense. As usual on board the Normandy. But it felt much more intensely so as Mordin continued to do his work.. He was nearing a breakthrough in his research to counter Collector Seeker swarms. And it'd probably go faster if he wasn't getting distracted by the man whom stood inspecting scientific equipment for no apparent reason besides boredom.

"Do not touch. Easily broken if mishandled." he admonished Hidan with clear sign of annoyance.

But the response was a mere "Nani?" as the silver haired man looked over his shoulder at the Salarian, appearing to be mildly mocking him by acting as if he didn't hear. Mordin blinked at the word though before he understood.

Curses.

Mordin reached up to restart his translation device embedded into his suit's collar. A basic mistake. "Look, but do not touch." the Salarian said as soon as he was sure that the program was running, so he could understand whatever Hidan chose to respond with.

Hidan simply smirked however.. The man turned back and raised a hand daringly. Mordin glared at him sternly. But the man appeared to be undeterred. Hidan went and did something as childish as poking the closest piece of equipment with the pinkie of his left hand. "Oops, I touched."

Just like a restless teenager who just refused to back down from doing whatever with the potential of amusing him even in the slightest.

The door which lead to the bridge slid open and allowed entrance to Konan, whom strode directly to Hidan and whispered something to him. To Mordin's annoyance, they spoke too low to translate properly. The Salarian let his annoyance flow freely for a fleeting moment before he got back to focusing on his work.

* * *

Shepard looked over the current status reports. The first he noticed being the general absence of Miranda's report. Only a few bits of information revealed that she had sent it directly to the Illusive man.

The Commander sighed and looked to Mordin's.. whom appeared to be getting close to completion with his current project. The other reports only involved standard operation procedures. Nothing much to take note off.

His mind slowly turned towards the Kalinin. The man considered the options available to him. At a press of a button, the mail appeared on his computer screen. A message from Councilor Anderson asking if he's truly alive as the rumors claim.

Though the Commander doubted Anderson required much proof. The mail appeared too close after the events at Illium to be coincidence. But though the Citadel council have never been very supportive of his cause, he could at the very least try gaining their support. And he'd need to convince them that he isn't working for Cerberus as the Council might think. According to the same message.

However, meeting with them would give him the chance to bring the cause of the Kalinin to the attention of the council. Considering it to be a better choice to get help for them from high up, instead of just releasing them into the galactic ocean filled with metaphorical sharks without anyone to turn to.

That was when Shepard's mind turned back to the implications of Miranda's report. She haven't sent any report since they went to the outer rim. And only now sent a report after recent events? To the Illusive man no less? Something's off, he could feel it as if it got set to scream at him.

"Commander Shepard. The Illusive man wants to talk to you, it's important." Joker called in at that precise moment.

Shepard shook his head at such impeccable timing. "I'll be there." he responded to the helmsman in due turn. Getting up to leave his room and move to the briefing room. A pit forming at the pit of his gut as he steeled himself for a potential fight if his suspicion concerning the potential topic of the meeting proved true.

* * *

Hinata and Naruto went to the elevator the instant the meeting ended. An awkward moment passed by as they leaned against each their wall within the contraption while Naruto attempted to press down to the hangar... thinking they might find some peace to think this through down there.

But before Naruto managed to press the button, the elevator began to lurch upward across two floors, and opened the door at the very top. Shepard stepped in, turned and pressed down.

Shepard seemed almost ready to wreck whatever he could get hold of as he thought about the coming meeting. But the Human halted mid-thought as he noticed the tenseness in the air, so much that it's as if it threatened to clog ventilation. Standing in the middle, between two teens who both stared blankly at the door as it closed, and feeling the contraption slowly move downwards.

It felt like standing between a pair of ticking time bombs that could go off at any moment. "Something I should know about?" he asked carefully, directing the full force of the question towards the boy.

"Er, it's nothing. Nothing to worry about." Naruto grimaced.. Shepard raised an eyebrow to which the boy continued like a dam had been shattered. "Nagato asked us to seriously consider... breeding sometime soon."

"Eh... ?" Shepard managed to utter. Half turning towards Hinata as if to confirm it, seeing her legs pressed up against one another as if glued. Her face rapidly turning pink. And the air suddenly gained the consistency of soup. If he had been told this at a bar by a friend about his age, he'd say 'Congrats.' But this... "But aren't you two, like, seventeen?"

The teens nodded very slowly, enough so that Shepard nearly missed it.

"It's OK, I won't judge you based on that. But you should perhaps talk to Mordin... about it." Shepard offered a tip, eternally grateful as the door slid open, allowing him to escape the awkward conversation post haste.

"That may be, a good idea?" Naruto asked, furrowing his eyebrows as he addressed Hinata.

"U-um, sure." she responded, and they left.. taking a slow left turn towards the lab.

They had no sooner entered it before Hidan's distinct psychotic laughter reached out to them, startling everyone around him, even making Shepard jump as he proceeded directly to the briefing room from there.

"You lucky fucking dog, you!" he hollered, ruffling Naruto's hair as he passed... only heading out because of the ice cold glare Konan gave him as she approached the teens and placed her hands onto their shoulders. "Huh, fine. Great way to kill the mood." Hidan cackled as he left. Mordin sighing thankfully for the man finally exiting his lab.

The teenagers listed their full attention to the elder Kunoichi with their concerns. She's stoic as all hell, but fully dependable.

* * *

"Commander, did we somehow pick up a dying walrus on the way?" Joker asked Shepard through the intercom.

"No, it was just Hidan." Shepard explained, completely deadpan as the table lowered to the floor as the Commander entered the room. He stepped into the holographic field as soon as it appeared fully stable. "What do you have for me?" he asked immediately as soon as the Illusive man appeared before him.

The "meeting room" used by the Illusive man are as impressive as ever. With it's grand sun burning in the background with all the eruptions going on all over it, surrounded by planets dyed in the color of the very star they orbited. The floor appeared flawlessly clean, giving a perfect reflection of all that stood upon it. And the leader of Cerberus sat patiently in the middle of it all as if he held the universe within the palm of his hand. The man's eyes locked with Shepard's.

"Nothing for the time being. I have got teams investigating Collector sightings all over the Terminus systems." he began, lighting a cigar of his, but kept it in his hand. "What interests me more at this time are the new occupants on board your ship." he paused.. "The Kalinin survivors."

Shepard silently cursed, his worries proved true after all. "What of them? We are currently en route to the Citadel, where we will bring their situation to the attention of the Council."

"I would prefer you think it over, Shepard." the Illusive man shot in. "They very much could hold the key to Human supremacy in the galaxy."

"At the cost of, what?" Shepard retorted.. "Is it not about time you realize that Humans are part of the great galactic community now? We even got a seat on the Citadel Council. There's no real threats to our kind aside from the Collectors and the Reapers."

"For now. But eventually Humanity must rise above all others." the man said seriously.. "I have a research facility that will readily accommodate the Kalinin remnants. The power and knowledge we could attain from them are beyond knowing."

"No, I will not allow you to exploit them." Shepard angrily uttered.. "They have suffered more than enough. They were almost wiped out back there. They have lost so much, and you want to turn them into lab rats?"

"What is a few individuals against the betterment of billions?"

"No matter what you say, the answer remains no! I will not subject them to any more suffering!" the Commander borderline growled.

To the Commanders satisfaction, the normally straight face of the Illusive man contorted into a mask of anger before he managed to calm down again.. "Yet suffer they still will. They are a dying people, no amount of reproduction will save them with such low numbers. It is only a matter of time before they are gone, and their secrets will be lost forever."

"They don't seem like the kind of people to simply let themselves fade away. They have surprised me several times already, and there's no telling what they could pull out of their collective hats next." Shepard replied with confidence.

"They won't survive, deep down you know it to be true. With Cerberus, they could leave behind a great legacy!"

Shepard shook his head.. "As long as they still got hope, neither I nor you have any right to decide their final fate for them."

"Very well. But it won't stop here, one way or another, the power of the Kalinin will belong to Humanity."

With that the meeting concluded, the hologram fading. The connection lost. Shepard left the briefing room in short order. "And I will make sure to prevent that from happening." he whispered to himself.

"Fact remains. Too young, problematic!"

Shepard turned his gaze at the opposing door that stood between him and the lab, with curious interest he approached and watched as the door slid open. Quite a scene had developed while the meeting went on. Mordin argued with Konan over the implications of a pair of seventeen years old becoming parents.

"They are Shinobi, they can handle it."

"Social norms, training and occupation does not matter. Physical maturity does."

"They are stronger than you believe they are. Neither Naruto, Hinata or any other Shinobi their age fits into you're definition on how youth should live. Life is too short, and life is harsh. It rewards hard work."

Konan did not seem to be trying. The woman just intended to talk things over with the youngsters.. That she had to contend with the protests of the resident Salarian was both unplanned and unwanted. Said teens watched them argue, seemingly quite embarrassed.

Alas, Shepard decided that he have more pressing issues to contend with as he moved out towards the cockpit. "Joker, we're taking a detour. Set course for Attican Beta."

"Sir...?" Joker inquired, confused.

"From there we will cycle through several systems before we go to the Citadel."

"Okay, Commander. Any reason why?"

"Let's say I'd prefer to keep a low profile to avoid Cerberus attention and possible inspection." he mostly referred to potential boarding action.

"Aye, aye. Sir."

He needed to provide some excuse to Miranda for this tour. Having decided to zigzag the ship through the galaxy if necessity craved it. This roundabout trip could potentially cost them a week. "EDI, shut down long range communications. Accept only inbound transmissions until further orders."

The AI seemed to hesitate for three full seconds before she complied, not seeing any breach in protocol. "Yes, Commander."

That way they could receive urgent messages concerning Collector activity while at the same time prevent anyone from disclosing their current location and destination, all but their final stop for now. The Spectre returned to his quarters, to plan for the effort ahead.

* * *

The Illusive man remained seated, staring at the empty space in front of him in deep contemplation. Truth be told, he knew Shepard would turn him down, but he tried to convince him anyway. He quietly considered the alternate options.

Four holograms arrayed themselves before him. Three Cerberus aligned scientists and an Officer from Cerberus' military branch.

"I trust you have read the report I forwarded to you?" the Illusive man asked formally.

"It's truly fascinating, sir." the one named Irvine Bachtein from the Science division said, seizing the initiative. "For such a species to exist."

"But they exist, that's all that matters." Elena Ferrance commented to her colleague... "If I understand this correctly, you wish for us to study them?" she addressed to the Illusive man, whom nodded in the affirmative.

"Yet it seems that we have very few options. The only live ones are on the Normandy, and from the look of things, Commander Shepard have refused to hand them over." Duran Staid added his two cents bluntly.

The Illusive man shook his head.. "Yes, and for the moment, the Normandy have gone off the radar, no doubt they will journey to the Citadel."

"Then we will intercept, and seize them by force." George Kullen of the Military branch suggested as the most viable course of action.

"Yes, but they are not our only option. Taking direct action upon Shepard now could hurt our cause elsewhere. Therefore, I will be sending all of you and your subordinate cells to Kalin 3." their leader spoke.

"Kalin 3? But there's nothing left on their home world, according to the report." Duran asked, confused with the order.

"The Geth is very thorough yes. But it's a whole planet. It may be possible that some objects worthy of attention could have slipped through their net. You will go there and retrieve as much information as you can regarding the subjects outlined in the report." The Illusive man told them smoothly. "But your main objective above all else concerning Kalin 3; is the retrieval of well preserved corpses for study and potential reanimation."

"R-reanimation?" Irvine inquired, his eyes widening. "You're not suggesting...!"

"Yes, the Lazarus Project will be reinstated. The costs will be enormous, but considering the potential gains. We can willingly make sacrifices for the good of Humanity."

The scientists before him seemed nervous about the implications, it sounded like a gamble. The restoration of Shepard alone was prohibitively expensive. They all hoped to find as many well preserved bodies as possible to avoid the same economical nightmare from happening over again.

"Any questions?"

"None, sir." they all straightened up, though they had their own concerns. Orders remained as orders.

"Then depart for Kalin 3 immediately. I will have the remnants of the Lazarus cell prepare the Zeus station in the Armstrong cluster for your findings. Dismissed!"

The Illusive man watched as the holograms shut down, leaving him yet again alone in the room. This whole idea's a long shot, but he managed to find some confidence for the time ahead. He would have to inform his contacts and organize additional funds for the coming operation. For which he chose the name; Zeus Project.

* * *

A twitch, a finger moved, then the whole hand. Confused and with a huge head ache, the girl groaned as she writhed and shifted in her bed, exhaling a whimper with a mix of pain and frustration as she tried to force herself up, until a pair of hands forced her back down.

"L-let go of me..." she stated, trying to sound threatening, but it only came out as a whimper.

Chakwas was having none of that though.. "Don't talk, and don't move. Doctors orders."

"But I can't."

The woman sighed.. "Just relax, miss Tenten. You're on board the Normandy, so are you're comrades." she pushed the Shinobi down as the girl tried to get up again. "Just stay, I'll call for your friends so that they can come over." she spoke reassuringly.

Tenten only eased down with extreme reluctance, trying to look as if her head ache wasn't bothering her, watching the Human walk back to her desk and spoke through the intercom. Chakwas casually broadcast the news across the ship. "Current patient in the med-bay, Tenten, have just woken up. Friends and comrades feel free to visit." she calmly announced.

It took no longer than a few seconds for the old man Onoki to step in, with a grin poorly masking the concern plastered all over his face. "How you feeling, brat?" he asked.

"Terrible, just terrible." she groaned.

The old man chuckled.. "I can imagine. You pulled off quite some stunt back there." the girl twitched as the Tsuchikage's eyes turned serious in a heartbeat.. "Don't try _anything_ like that again without permission, is that clear!"

Tenten lowered her head.. "Y-yes. Crystal clear.." she responded immediately. Last she wanted was an argument in her current state. Nagato entered the room shortly after, looking towards the girl with his regularly flat expression. "Oi, Nagato." the girl chimed in.. "Mission complete!"

The man blinked as she had happily announced just that. His and Onoki's curiosity piqued in an instant. One thing he wanted more than anything else right now was a sliver of good news, whatever it is.


	9. Chapter 9

The gloomy atmosphere on board the ship had given away for a more bright one. Every Kalinin gathered within the Med-bay as if Tenten's recovery was a case of celebration. Chakwas had excused herself to take a break at the ships tiny cafeteria, her presence largely replaced by Thane whom also found himself attending.

"It's such a relief! Like the old fart said, you're lucky to be alive after all that!" Naruto beamed over the Tsuchikage's annoyed grunt at the boys choice of words.

"Yeah, I thought I was a goner back then. Low on chakra, shot and falling off that machine at full speed." Tenten giggled softly, though not without a shiver.

"That's what you get from intruding on other people's job. Girl." Thane commented dryly. Referring to that Nassana's assassination could have been completed without a hitch, if not for her interference.

"Yeah, I screwed up." Tenten grimaced, slightly apologetic.

Kisame invited himself into the conversation at that moment.. "Yeah, yeah. You're fine. But I'm really curious, Nagato said you got a surprise for us. Something about mission success?"

"I just wanted to wait until everyone's here. Where's my scrolls?"

"Um, here they are." Hinata answered, picking up the items from the table on the other side of the room. The girl carried them all over, except the big one. Feeling rather certain that whatever Tenten have sealed away during her brief stay on Illium, it's most likely in one of the scrolls she kept in reserve.

"This one!" she pulled out of the small pile Hinata brought over before she could even put them all down on the neighboring bed. It used to be a mission scroll for S-class assignments, altered by Tenten to carry tools. The girl opened it and unfurled several feet worth of paper.

Tenten threw away the blanket she had, crossed her legs to cover the least amount of space and covered the rest of the stretch with the scroll. "Stand back, I'll release them all at once."

Naruto and Kisame whom happened to be the closest ones at the time took a full step back, everyone watching intently, "Release!"

Thane stepped back as a cloud of smoke obscured the room for a short few seconds, enough to attract Chakwas' attention as she rushed into the room. The Drell placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It's not a fire." Thane answered with a very slight hint of a smile, watching as the cloud cleared, most of it taken away by the ventilation. Seeing that everyone else had payed rapt attention to what Tenten had in store.

At that very moment, Garrus along with Jacob walked by, deep in discussions about maintenance revolving the weaponry on board the ship as before the smoke-filled infirmary pulled their attention. "Is it burning?" Jacob asked, alarmed at first till the smoke cleared away.

"I don't think so..." Garrus replied, but his voice died away, eliciting a quiet "w-whoa."

On top of the scroll and scattered around it stood a rich collection of three M-76 Revenant, seven Assault rifles of slightly different designs, ten pistols and dozens of thermal clips to the astonishment of the others. Tenten grinned proudly as all the attention around her landed squarely on that of her collection.

"Oh, fucking hell." Hidan tried to applaud her, but he seemed to be at a loss for words.

"Ah, so you referred to my request back at Illium. Interesting. A job well done." Nagato commented as he picked up one of the clips to study closely.

Onoki simply helped himself to a pistol, a regular M-3 Predator, picking it up to observe closely, though he knew well enough to avoid pointing it at people, and to keep his fingers off the trigger even though the weapon did not appear to be loaded.

"Dibs on one of the big red ones." Kisame chuckled, his eyes lingering on the machine guns.

Tenten scratched the back of her head.. "Hee, I used to have four of those. But I lost one at the Dantius towers when Nagato used his Chibaku Tensei." to which Nagato coughed.

"So, shall we distribute them?" Naruto asked as he finally overcame his astonishment, having picked up a M-15 Vindicator.. staring at it with wide round eyes, seemingly unwilling to blink even once as he inspected the fascinating weapon.

"I don't think that's such a good idea." Jacob interjected as he came in.. "No ones allowed to arm themselves on board the ship bar emergencies." he informed them in a mechanical manner to some of the Kalinin's disappointment.

"I'm curious as to how you managed to afford them though." Garrus translated his immediate line of thought into words.

Tenten squirmed notably.. "Well, I could not pay for them. So I took some that had already been stolen someplace else. You see the damage, after all."

Hinata walked past Kisame and picked up one of the weapons, activating her Byakugan as she looked it over. As if to examine it. The non-Kalinin within the room flinched ever so slightly. The Hyuga's ocular technique often made them feel uncomfortable. "Um, there's a lot of dried blood on these weapons. T-that's just one of the indications. Or at least, the most severe one."

"In any case, you should deliver them to the armory." Jacob half insisted.

Tenten grimaced instantly.. "No way, we're keeping them, alright?" she paused, looking over her collection before a thought rushed to the top of her head. "Hey! Where's the sniper rifle I let you borrow?" she asked Thane.

The Drell coughed in response.. "Jacob brought it to the armory!"

"Stealing is bad, yo!" Naruto chimed in, earning several odd stares.

"Tell your friend that, first!" Garrus said, the delivery of the line carrying a humorous intent.

"Oh, oops."

Jacob observed the scene.. and chose that moment to not press the issue any further, instead choosing that moment to leave the med-bay. "The Sniper rifle will stay in the armory till further notice, as for the rest. I will have to inform Shepard."

"T-that could have gone better." Hinata whispered meekly.

Naruto seemed slightly annoyed. "Would not have been the first time anyway."

"Don't spoil the mood." Konan told him flatly.

Chakwas shrugged.. "Might as well get you some food. It's been a whole day since you last got some." she suggested, getting most of the others attention. "I could ask our chef to make you something. Anything in particular you'd like to have?"

"Ramen!" Naruto shouted.

"Zenzai, please." Hinata asked politely.

"Roll up some spare ribs, if he got some." Hidan asked.

"Flame-broiled fish, if you may." Konan asked.

"Some shrimps or crab would be great." Kisame requested.

"Grilled fish, please." Nagato requested in the same manner.

"I want dumplings." Tenten informed her.

"No thanks, but I would like some sake." Onoki requested.

In the next room, Gardner went on with his own business, blissfully unaware of the requests he would soon be burdened with. But he could not help but feel some real chill run down his spine.

* * *

In another place entirely, some time later. The Scientist sat, groggily rubbing his forehead as he waited for his assistant to set up the link that would let him contact the others. Bachtein of Cerberus' Science division. Middle aged, thin. Black hair, bushy and barely tended to. His eyes obscured by his thick glasses.

"Are you quite finished yet?"

His assistant, Henry, spoke up in response.. "Almost-" a click and the communication device finally activated, the holograms of the leaders of the other cells appearing before him. The invasion had turned Kalin 3 into a wasteland. Bachtein would not have even considered setting foot on this world if it wasn't for it's considerable worth.

Just like him, everyone else wore white hazard suits for safety sake. The Geth had been very thorough, most settlements had been demolished completely. Scattered splints and stumps were all that was left of the forests on this world.

The only places that seemed to escape the most harm were the most desolate places such as mountains and deserts. The only life they had found among others were on Bachtein's part horribly maddened and mutated canines.

Bar a couple of survey teams that were searching the village above their location, the rest of the cell situated itself inside an underground library that contained many items of interest. The linguists struggled to translate the contents of scrolls and books. Most of the shelves had been toppled. It seemed like it had seen heavy fighting like the rest of the planet. But by a stroke of it, it did not suffer the same fate as that of the rest of this village.

With a heavy heart, he turned to the holograms and spoke up; "Alright, it's been several hours since we first came here. It's time to establish our preliminary report."

"We were lucky, that's for certain." Duran began.. "We only found the location of the most powerful Hidden Villages by first locating the governmental facilities in each of the five greatest nations on this planet. It took some doing, but we found them. And through the information we gathered, we will also soon find the minor villages as well."

"And how fared you're efforts in the village named.." Duran checked the files on his PDA... "Kirigakure no sato?"

"My cell is packing up, we're moving to the location of Kumogakure no sato. Kirigakure have by far suffered the most damage. The bombardment blasted most of the island chain beneath the ocean. And the rest are heavily contaminated, not to mention the mutated lifeforms beneath the surface. No viable information." Elena summed up.. "Our only viable findings are fifteen corpses in somewhat decent condition. I'd say it was nothing but pure dumb luck, the rest were worse off than Shepard. However, we did find a lone hut in a northern island, very small one at that."

"What's so important about one small hut?" Bachtein asked, the others remaining silent.

"We found a body there, miraculously well preserved. Only withered somewhat, not outright rotten. Strange considering that the air was highly acidic. Maybe it killed off most or all the bacteria that would have caused the body to decompose. Thorough work."

"Geth did it?"

"Hard to say, the contamination grew denser the closer we got to the body itself. Considering the powers the live Kalinin possess according to Miss Lawson..."

"What's the cause of death?"

"Suicide. There's a grave stab wound in her abdomen. We found a bloodied knife nearby. We needed to use hazard suits to get close to her, but the body wasn't affected by the acid at all."

"Interesting." George noted. He did not enjoy survey work much. But since there appeared to be extremely little that could actually threaten the scientists. He and his cell participated in the search. So he selected Iwagakure no sato. Linguists stated it to be a village built much like a fortress. And because of that fact, the man from the military branch of Cerberus found himself drawn towards it.

"And what about you?" Elena verbally poked George.

"Not much. We have secured thirty corpses within the village. The best preserved one appear to be a woman whom from the looks of things attempted to defend herself from some rather big stuff. She was surrounded by a semi sphere made of rock. Whatever ordnance hit her, had not only breached her protection, but almost ripped her in half."

"That's hardly well preserved, George." Duran reluctantly noted.

The soldier shrugged.. "Compared to the rest of them, she is."

"Anything else?"

"Nah, the Geth burned almost everything to the ground."

"What about you, Bachtein?" Duran asked, directing his attention towards his colleague.

Said scientist rubbed his forehead again. "I'm currently in the village called Konohagakure no sato." he began.. "Mostly rubble, only a few outlying structures and deep underground installation survived to some capacity. We've found seven corpses till now, though my people are still searching. The number could increase over the next few hours."

"Anyone at all suitable to be among those first to be restored at the Zeus station?" Elena asked.

"One. A boy who got shot, but probably did not die until a little later." Bachtein described coldly, though a slight sign of sadness colored his tone. It's never easy to see dead youngsters. "We found him in a freezer in one of the underground shelters. He probably tried to hide from the Geth. But later died from his wounds. We did a quick autopsy and found three bullets in his abdomen, one of them punctured his liver."

Duran rubbed his eyes with that information.. "That's a bad way to go. What horrors he must had been through in his final moments."

"Last time I checked, there aren't many good ways to go." George offered input. "And considering the state of this world. Many must have suffered much worse. For a primitive culture like this. The war must have seemed like an apocalypse to them."

"The end of days." Bachtein murmured.

"You're right about that, George." Duran said. "I'm currently in the village called Sunagakure no sato. It's a total mess. Completely razed to the ground. There's a construct here that resembles a Reaper. Similar to the altar which the Geth built back on Feros."

"Damn." George whispered.. "Don't tell me."

"Yeah, we found at least a couple hundred skeletal remains surrounding the altar. Probably as an offering to the Reapers." Duran described with a heavy heart.

"Hell. That's even worse than I feared." the soldier muttered, turning away for a moment. His hologram becoming distorted as he struck a nearby object.

"Some of the inhabitants seemed to respond to the invasion by digging their underground compounds deeper in order to escape or hide. Needless to say, the Geth found them anyway. There's no bodies on the surface bar the aforementioned remains. But we have managed to find at least ten bodies in bad condition. The tunnels are a maze however, so expect more."

"I've been informed that a few of the Zeus Cell have been sent here with a cargo ship. If their journey go smoothly, they will arrive within a couple of days. Gather the found bodies to the shuttles for extraction. Label the body bags with the bodies that are best suited for restoration the quickest. The Illusive man wants a few prepared as soon as possible." Bachtein informed the rest.. "I hear he got a mission in mind for them."

"I pray it won't be too risky." Elena muttered to herself.. "Can't go about revealing the new army before we even raise one."

"Anyone think he'll try using them to catch the live ones?" George asked with a shrug.

Duran shook his head.. "I'll leave gambling to the boss."

"Once we are done with the major villages. We will try to search the lesser ones. So find and gather all that you can. Don't leave any one stone unturned." Bachtein summed it up. "Got it?"

There were a chorus of acknowledgments from the others as the holograms shut off, leaving Bachtein to grumble as he looked at a book nearby and pulled it in front of himself after a moment of contemplation. The man's gaze was fixed upon the book until he at last decided to open and tried to read it. Using the translation which the linguists had provided thus far.

* * *

Onoki was annoyed.. first the chef did not have sake. He was instead given a beer.

Second, he was trying to use a PDA he had been provided after having requested a source of information. The network which spanned the galaxy was called the extra net he believed it was called. Using translation devices that he and the others were given back on Illium. It sure wasn't convenient, the old man clumsily handled the PDA, pressing a few buttons slowly and ended up back at the start page again. "Drat it. I'm too old for this shit." he groaned.

"Stop fucking complaining, ya old fart." Hidan responded.. both he and Naruto was given the task to help gathering information alongside Onoki. But from the looks of things, they fared no better.

"Come on.. it isn't that hard." Naruto noted, before his PDA suddenly shorted out in a spectacular manner, as if the boy had just drop kicked the thing across the room. "OK, it's hard." the boy slammed his forehead against the table.

"Search, for what is called the Citadel council, you idiots!" Onoki demanded. Miranda appeared a few seconds later, as if by magic.

"The council you said? Just go here and here..." the woman gently asked as she fished up Onoki's device and input some commands and handed it back.. "And there you go." she said in a smug manner before she left.

Naruto looked over in astonishment.. "How did she even do that?"

"Beats me." Hidan grimaced, half disappointed. While searching for the council on his PDA, he had somehow ended up with a cookbook... filled with food recipes suitable for ammonia-based lifeforms, like the Volus.

"Apparently... the galaxy is ruled by four races. Or at least half of it." Onoki read it up, a mask of annoyance crossing his face.

"A-sari.. Sal-arian... Tu-rian.. Hu-man." Naruto read very slowly over the Tsuchikage's shoulder, which was no big feat. "They all look weird. Those Humans looks like us though, don't they?"

"You took this long to find out, slowpoke?" Hidan asked, on the border of letting a mocking laughter go.

"Aw shut up." Naruto responded with a grunt.

"So, how did those bastards get to the top of the stars?"

The Tsuchikage sighed.. "The first two whom Naruto so aptly mentioned were the order in which they joined. Asari discovered something called the Citadel."

Hidan turned around his PDA after finally finding the way... "Ya mean this?" the man asked as he pointed at the screen, displaying the massive space station shaped somewhat like a pentagram, with five huge arms stretching from the ring-like part at the far end.

"Looks awesome." Naruto cheerfully noted, putting up both thumbs.

"Says that it's something that was built some fifty thousand years ago by an old race named the Protheans."

"Anyway, after the so-called Protheans vanished. The Asari discovered it, followed closely by the Salarians whom together formed the Citadel council as a multi-species governing body." Onoki read out loud to the others.

"Sounds rather bothersome that. Next, the Turians got to onto the council for saving the galaxy from something called Krogan." Naruto muttered, reading Onoki's PDA.

"The big reptile fellow downstairs, Grunt I think. He's a Krogan." Onoki responded.

"Then the Humans got a spot on the council for saving it, the Citadel and the galaxy from the Geth, which attacked the station alongside a massive ship, powerful beyond anything people know." Hidan's eyes twitched.. "Geth, ain't they those fuckers that destroyed our world?"

Naruto slammed a fist against the table as realization struck him.. "But if they can strike so deep into this galaxy, right under the noses of the Citadel. Then how can we trust them to help us out?"

"Never the less. We are gathering information to more easily communicate with them. Much less difficult if we get ourselves a basic understanding of the species as well as their politics." the old man sighed tiredly, diverting Naruto's attention from the Geth at the moment.

Naruto lowered his head down to the table and landed his forehead against it. "I know."

Hidan and Onoki simply nodded, a few foot steps approaching them. "Made progress?" Konan asked as she sat down on the lone vacant chair.. to which the Tsuchikage simply slid over his PDA.

"All we have found out for now are here. But we need more info."

"Why not ask the Commander then?. He may know the procedure better than what is listed on the extra-net." Konan offered a suggestion.

"Alright, tell Hinata and Kisame to ask while we keep looking?" Onoki grimaced slightly, his gaze focused on the boy.. "You do it."

"Yes, yes. I'm going." Naruto sighed and stood up to leave.

"The crew have mentioned some details concerning the council." Konan informed the rest.

A glare.. "What did they say?" Onoki quickly asked.

"They say the Turian are stubborn and narrow minded. The Asari are sympathetic and quite formal. The Salarian seems the most quirky, being quite inquisitive. The Human councilor are the most open minded and accepting member far as I've heard. He used to be a soldier they say."

"A soldier, not politician? Sounds reliable." Naruto hollered with a grin as he came back, not the slightest sign of any sarcasm so it must had been genuine.

"I believe he could be the most reasonable among them. But for all our sakes, don't get on the bad sides of any of them." Konan warned cautiously while the rest gave it a thought.. the rumbling of the elevator interrupting the silence momentarily as Hinata had fetched Kisame and gone upstairs to meet with the Commander.

* * *

Henry, the assistant of Bachtein stepped out of his shuttle after he had successfully landed on the recently arrived ship; A Kowloon class freighter aligned with Zeus cell. He gazed at the display, seeing the other shuttles that had left Kalin 3's atmosphere and in unison moved towards the Kowloon with the intent of dropping off the first shipment for the Zeus station labs, mostly bodies they had managed to recover as well as minor artifact's, which included various scrolls, an array of tools and a number of other objects of note. All horribly primitive compared to the technology of the rest of the galaxy at large. But it would be folly to simply discard the items as just that. A few accidents proved that they hold quite some surprises. Some that could potentially benefit Cerberus greatly.

He quietly stepped off the shuttle and stood aside as one of several recovery crews arrived and began to haul the filled body bags out of the shuttle and distribute them into various coffin's for cold storage. Taking special care to label them correctly, especially the coffins that the most well preserved bodies are going to be stored away inside. He observed as they worked, vaguely picking up similar operations taking place next doors between the ships crew and the other shuttles that had arrived to unload the bodies and artifacts gathered by the other cells.

To most people, what they were doing would be called grotesque, in-human, grave plundering. Hell, Henry agreed to that assessment. He only kept working with the belief that the end will justify the means. In this moment of not having anything in particular to do, he allowed himself a brief solemn look at all the bags. How many used to live there? .. There was no answer to that question..

He looked up and saw one Zeus Project Scientist wandering from one body bag to another, briefly examining the bodies with a giddy look on his face, as if very excited. "Oh yes, perfect specimen." the man sputtered a comment of approval when he inspected one of the specially marked ones. "He'll be up in a week or so, give or take, I'm certain of it."

Henry thought that sounded like a load of crap. "Hey, did not Shepard take every bit of two years to recover?"

The scientist turned towards him and adjusted his square glasses.. "Indeed, but he was in terrible condition. Almost nothing but meat and tubes. But overall the project was at it's experimental stage."

A head tilt later.. "The process is faster now?"

"Yeah. We got a greater understanding of the process now. And can avoid delays and mistakes on the way. Greater effectiveness and efficiency. Overall better. But the body being this well preserved, it should go without a hitch." he explained in as simple terms as he could put them.

"Any danger they might prove hostile upon waking back up again?"

"It's possible, yes. But the Illusive man have authorized the use of control chips in their brains to ensure that they comply with our orders."

"Sounds good."

"Indeed it does." the scientist nodded in rapid motions before turning to see the unloading and storing complete. "That would be all then, get back ground-side and we'll be on our way with our precious cargo and let you know of our progress."

"Thank you, I'll pass the word to the rest." Henry stated in a formal manner as he got back into the shuttle. He waited for the teams to get out of the room together with the cargo before the bay doors opened, allowing himself to lift off and leave for the surface. Gazing down at the now nearly barren planet which used to be full of life, the only detectable movements being other shuttles as they left the Kowloon and sped down to rejoin their cells.

In this silent moment, he once again allowed himself to think about what he was doing.

Planet-side, Bachtein continued to read through the books stored away within the library. Most of which contents are of great interest. However, there was one book that fetched his attention in particular. A very old diary, written by what appeared to be one of the leaders this village used to have. And as he read through the contents of the book, he found his heart gripped by the story it had to tell. A story written by an old man whom loved his village and looked upon it's people as a part of one great family.

Hiruzen... Sarutobi.


	10. Chapter 10

The trip around the galaxy took more time than estimated by the ships Commander. Shepard had shown himself to be the victim of a major chronic hero syndrome. They have had to stop at several places as the Commander did not leave any one distress call unanswered, saving the day for a great number of people.

Because of this, the Kalinin ended up stuck on board the ship for no less than three stinking weeks.. A few broken instruments in the hangar testified to some pent up frustration on the part of Hidan and Kisame. Whom both fought one another several times over the course of the trip. The others fought at times also. In some cases the battles were so brutal that it even spooked Grunt, whom otherwise was more than happy to watch them clash.

For the teens, the situation slowly became even worse. Due to the hangar being so often occupied by the more violent elders of the group. Tenten, Hinata and Naruto often ended up stuck playing a game called Chess. Often playing against the engineers downstairs or Thane and Jack. The latter whom proved herself to be a horribly poor loser, just like Hidan. The tension on board was often broken up by arguments between Jack and Miranda to the detriment of everyone nearby, and every time it happened.. Nagato came over to break the fight up every time his patience ran out, separating them, more often than not, with a Shinra tensei.

Konan was content to overlook the increase of Nagato's diet. And became slightly humored at every meal of the man acting something akin to a child at the increase she made. At most other times, she walked around with Onoki to question crew members about galactic society. They did not really go to ask Shepard after Hinata and Kisame tried to talk to him about the procedure behind Council meetings. Apparently he don't really like them very much at all, to be blunt. Instead, they focused their effort on other people familiar with it... such as Garrus. They even ventured to ask those of a more radical opinions of ongoing politics... such as the Cerberus personnel as far as they've learned. Giving them all a slight distrust towards Cerberus due to their questionable methods.

People like Tali and Grunt provided opinions from an outside perspective. The latter whom was mostly crude at it. Mordin provided some valuable knowledge, though he had never actually reported directly to the council.

They also learned more about the militant arm of the Citadel, it's underhanded side that is. About Spectres. Whom could easily butcher innocents if it got the job done without any punishment, that little detail earned the instant dislike from the Leaf-nin.. Nagato's and Konan's opinions weren't any better.

However, the painful wait finally neared it's end. After the first day of the fourth week.. they passed through the final Mass relay that brought them to the Serpent Nebulae in which they finally saw the splendor of the center of galactic civilization with their own eyes.. The Citadel.

Most were watching the approach from view screens across the bridge. However, crowding the immediate area next to Joker were Naruto and Hinata.

"Look at that, it's huge!" Naruto loudly told the girl, completely amazed.

"So big.." Hinata softly whispered to herself. Their eyes almost growing comically large as the Citadel seemed to constantly grow as the Normandy moved in closer, also giving them a good view of the mighty fleet surrounding it... a dozen Systems Alliance cruisers and the flagship of the Citadel, the Destiny Ascension. Tenten squeezed in against the two others to get a good view of the massive Dreadnought, only a few kilometers distance from it's left "wing". The attention of all three glued towards it.

Joker opened a link.. "Citadel control, this is the Normandy. Seeking permission to land."

It only took a few seconds before he got an answer.. "Copy that, Normandy. Dock 65 on Zakera wards are open for approach."

"Roger that, Citadel control. We're heading in to dock." Joker confirmed as he lowered the Normandy towards one of the Citadel's massive arms.. the one designated as Zakera wards.

"Alright everyone. Tali and Mordin.. you're coming with me." Shepard called out as he approached the cockpit. Receiving twin affirmatives off the intercom. "Which of you will bring you're cause to the Council?" he addressed the Kalinin gathered there already.

"We will." Onoki responded, gesturing towards himself and Nagato.. "However, the rest of the group need to take a breath of fresh air too."

Shepard nodded.. "Alright, get ready. As for the rest. They will have to be followed by fellow crew members to keep them from getting lost."

"As long as you don't put a leash on them." the old man muttered.

"OK." Shepard responded and opened the intercom again.. this time a general broadcast. "The Kalinin needs some time out. So I need people to keep them out of trouble." he began.. quietly considering his options. "Jacob Taylor, you tag along with Hidan, Naruto and Hinata." - "Garrus with Tenten, Konan and Kisame. That is all."

The Kalinin gave a general shrug.. not wholly enjoying the thoughts of having babysitters. But waited patiently for the ship to finally dock and equalize atmosphere between the station and the ship before any of them could leave along with their "escorts".

The moment they exited the ship, to their considerable relief, the groups moved into various directions. Shepard's group took the first cab to the Presidium, sending an message in advance to the Human embassy in case they weren't already notified. Sending along small amount of data to add in translation for convenience, though he did not send along information about why. Since the Kalinin now possess translation devices, they would not have any difficulty to communicate with them. But Anderson and the Council could possibly experience difficulties. Hence the information sent.

Jacob Taylor's group moved deeper into the ward, following Naruto's insisting nose. The third group appeared to be far less hasty... Konan voiced an interest to visit a bar, a notion which Kisame and Garrus agreed to. Tenten simply shrugged and followed along.. reminding the others that she's not old enough to drink what they are planning to. But before they could all pass deeper into the Zakera wards, they needed to get past the C-sec checkpoint in that part. Luckily Shepard had foreseen the complexity of such a situation and arranged the appropriate information required without revealing too much. Once they had gotten past it, the two groups went each their way.

* * *

"Just what are you idiot doing?" Hidan asked, sounding sufficiently annoyed at having been dragged past several interesting looking places already through on the way towards wherever Naruto wanted to go.

Naruto looked over his shoulder at Hidan.. "Don't butt in, I smell something familiar.." he mentioned before going quiet, approaching a stand around the next corner.. "This smell is... ramen!" the boy shouted and broke into a full run. Hinata followed him towards the stand, while the two others lagged behind. Two of the three Kalinin somewhat bewildered by the discovery.

By the time the two eldest in the group caught up to the teens.. they already gotten each their bowl of ramen.. "I can't believe this, I must be dreaming! I haven't had ramen since Ichiraku's got destroyed." Naruto cheered before he began to eat in a frenzy.

Hinata started much slower, suppressing a giggle at the boys eagerness before officially beginning.

"Weren't there other places?" Jacob asked out of curiosity.

Naruto shrugged.. "All of them gone, but none could get close to Ichiraku ramen bar. They were the best!"

"Hey, are there no place to get something less prepared food?" Hidan asked.

Jacob looked at him, an eyebrow raised... "What do you mean 'less prepared'?"

"H-he means that he prefer the meat to be as raw as possible." Hinata answered for the man nervously.

"Sounds barbaric." Jacob put in... getting some nods of agreement.

Hidan didn't seem pleased.. "Oh shut up!"

The group continued to discuss amongst themselves, unknowing that they are under someones surveillance.

* * *

The Illusive man allowed himself a chuckle after having received information from agents of his that were stationed on the Citadel about the Normandy having docked and gave the necessary orders. Wait until they are sufficiently spread out and then tip off C-Sec about fake crimes that would be planted into their systems.. the most favorable outcome being C-Sec moving in to arrest the Kalinin, putting them into custody and await a transport to take them to a more secure facility. Only those receiving the Kalinin will be agents loyal to Cerberus, who will then bring the captives to Zeus station.

That's of course be the most favored outcome. There's always the chance that they will resist capture, but between them and the forces of C-Sec. It's only a matter of time.

However, he did not carry even the slightest doubt that some unexpected problem could potentially happen. The false crime accusations won't hold any water if Shepard's able to draw official support from the Citadel Council. A few days ago, such a problem would be impossible to get past. But now, Cerberus had acquired the right tools for the job.

The scientists working on the Zeus project responded positively about the restoration effort of the three most well preserved Kalinin recovered from their home world. For all intents and purposes the process of reviving them went without difficulty, but to prevent any thoughts of rebellion, they had been implanted with control chips as per orders. Thanks to those, it would be impossible for the newly acquired super soldiers to disobey order.

And their first orders were nothing short of extreme. They were to infiltrate the Citadel tower and keep the council under observation from a distance. If the capture of the free Kalinin fails, or if Shepard succeeds in pulling their support; then they were to assassinate the council before the knowledge becomes official.

"Execute the first plan in order, fence them in!" he instructed the agent he spoke to.

On the far end, the operative nodded. "Yes, sir." he closed the link and immediately linked with the rest of his team.. "Send the package."

* * *

The place felt too quiet, Jacob thought to himself.. so quiet in fact that he felt as if he wasn't in the wards at all. The proximity of the C-Sec station nearby being one possibility, but...

The crowd scattered.

Hinata noticed the awkward silence that started to sink over the area.. Naruto however did not notice a thing yet, being busy singing alongside an Elcor at karaoke. Jacob looked around in alarm, but the moment he turned around.. he found a gun elevated at him, held by a C-Sec officer, one of many that gathered around the tree. "Raise your hands and come quietly!" the first one spoke.

"Whoa, wait a minute. On what grounds do you have on arresting us? Poor singing?" Jacob asked with a serious tone. The teens nearby lifted their arms, confused about the whole situation.

"We did not come here for you specifically. But then we found out you come from that dump of terrorists, Cerberus. And I'm guessing those murderers are in cahoots with you?" the Officer glared.

Jacob's heart sank.. "Leave them alone, go ahead and take me but leave the others out of this."

The other would not have it.. "No, we just got information that they are responsible for numerous alien murder cases across Citadel space."

"Wait, hold on! We haven't killed anyone!" Naruto chimed in.

"Right, all criminals say the exact same thing, now shut the hell up and move!"

Jacob thought the whole situation odd. He considered briefly what had brought this event about. The most likely scenario being misinformation. But how?

"Hey, what the hells going on here?" Hidan shouted as he came back to the booth only to see his comrades and Jacob surrounded by Officers, one of them whirled around and opened fire.. the bullet striking home into his gut. "... Gah!" he gasped as the air got knocked out of him and collapsed to the floor.

"Hidan!" both teens yelled in concern only to be struck back against the wall while another checked up on the man on the floor.

"He's alive. We got all three of them now."

"Good, take them away and to the interrogation facility at Zakera end station." the leader of the Officers called out. To which the Cerberus Operative and the three Kalinin will be brought to within the hour. Nearby Cerberus spies watched the scene as it unfolded perfectly according to their leaders plan.

* * *

"Awfully noisy this place." Kisame offered his two coins.

Konan nodded silently as she sat back and enjoyed her drink.

"It's always like this in clubs like these I'll tell you. Here's your water, Tenten." Garrus said as he returned to the table after having wrestled his way back through the dancing and chattering crowds. Tenten thanked him as she received the drink and took a sip, sighing with relief. As quickly as he entered the conversation, the Turian withdrew, trying to open a channel to Jacob, just in case.

It took a while before his call got answered, but by someone entirely else, much to Garrus' surprise.. "Hello...?" the awkward tone reached him, sounding like a rather poor imitation of Jacob's voice... instead he recognized it as someone entirely else.

"Uh, Chris?" Garrus asked with surprise.

A gasp answered him, realization dawning on the one on the other side. "Garrus, is that you? Damn, I haven't heard from you in a long time."

Garrus shrugged mentally, his mandibles hanging as he responded.. "Been rather busy, doing vigilante work."

"Huh, say, why do you have the number of a Cerberus Operative?"

"And I'd like to ask how you got your hands on his com link!"

"He and the murderers were arrested and detained.. they will most likely be interrogated soon."

This struck Garrus by surprise.. "What...? Murderers? What are you talking about?"

"A man with a silver hairdo and his two accomplices, responsible for multiple alien deaths." Chris replied matter-of-factly.

"You've gotten it all wrong. They are refugees, they haven't killed anyone!" the Turan said, a tick of annoyance lacing his voice. Chris was a good friend, but had a habit of not listening. The very bane of his existence.

"Tell that to our archives."

The first that came to the Turian's mind was the possibility of hacking.. But who would do this other than... "Listen, those archives are wrong in this case. Most likely it's misinformation!"

"You've watch too many crime-vids, Garrus.." the other said.

"Can you at least tell me where they were taken?"

"Where do you think?" And at that, Garrus had a feeling that he knew what his earlier colleague meant. The infamous Zakera end station. A section of C-Sec on this arm of the station given over to the darker side of business, such as the sort of interrogation one would usually see in an army prison camp. The Turian closed the link and immediately moved back to the others.

"Bad news. Jacob and the others have gotten arrested."

"You, have got to be kidding me." Konan blurted out.

Tenten looked confused.. "What the hell for?"

"My guess is misinformation. Some unknown party, maybe Cerberus, landed C-Sec on their necks." Garrus groaned. "Where is Kisame? We need to go."

The teen gestured behind her.. Further away, Kisame stood, stuck in a terribly one sided conversation with a Hanar which seemed delighted over having found someone of another aquatic species. The Shinobi seemed less than pleased however, looking as if he fought a hard battle against the urge to slice the alien apart.

"Kisame, come on! We're leaving!" Tenten yelled at him, and the reply she got was a heavy sigh of relief... having finally given him an excuse to leave without spilling blood first.

They left the bar quickly, heading out towards the traffic areas to fetch an air cab. "We can't go breaking into Zakera end station. Best we can do is to get close and call for Shepard. So that we can get this mess cleared up."

"He really have that kind of power?" Konan asked, unbelieving.

Garrus offered a curt nod while an air cab veered towards their position at his call. "He's a Specter, unless the council have taken away his Spectre status by now. But the Human councilor's a friend of his. He can possibly pull a few strings." the vehicle slowed down and presented it's broad side towards them and the door for them to enter. Once they had gotten in, Garrus quickly gave the directions.. "Zakera end station, and step on it."

The Krogan chauffeur gave of a casual shrug as if he got that kind of insistence a lot before the initial air pressure crashed into them as the air cab set into motion and sped into the traffic at highest allowable speed.

* * *

At the med-facility within the infamous Zakera end station, an unconscious Hidan had been brought in to be treated for the gun wound in his gut. They also brought along the clothed baggage that the man had carried about onto the station, planning to soon secure it. However, they did it in the wrong order. Hidan's eyes snapped open, and within a few minutes the infirmary turned into hell.

"Urgh..." several voices groaned. Bodies tumbled and fell to the floor, their empty eyes having stared at the man in front of them as the most incomprehensible thing happened. The gray haired man stood further away, his body colored black and white with the visage of a skeleton glowering at them with a psychotic grin across his face. The Officers picked up their guns the moment he attacked them with a suddenly unveiled red triple bladed scythe and successfully drew blood from all of them before they were able to open fire.

It was impossible, how the man stood there.. hit with so many bullets and yet every one of them felt as if it were they who got hit, absolutely riddled with bullet wounds. Their world ending in darkness as the man's insane laughter echoed through their dying ears.

"Aha.. the guns here hurts too." Hidan quipped with barely suppressed laughter as soon as he had remotely succeeded in calming down. "Now, then." he said, before falling silent as if missing something... "Aw hell no, commandments be damned. How in the blazes am I to find the kids without someone to ask?" he yelled while looking about, his religion forbids half-killings, so naturally he ended up on his own. He figured that the installation can't be all that big. But then again, that was nothing but a guess. "I have no choice but to look around at random... what a head ache, if only that bastard Kakuzu was still up and running." he muttered while leaving the room, dragging his scythe across the floor in a foul mood.

* * *

A loud slap could be heard, all the way from his cell. Naruto shouted in an ever increasing rage after he had heard the tell-tale report of violence coming from the general direction of the interrogation room. "Let her go, damn it!" he cried out while kicking the cell door in a brutal manner.

"Shut up, criminal. Get to the wall, the wench is only getting what she deserves for the crimes she committed, and so shall you!" a nearby Turian guard shouted at him.

"We haven't done anything wrong! Whatever you got on us are fake!" Naruto replied furiously.

"All criminal bastards out there say the exact same thing, over and over like a broken record. Why not just shut up you lowlif-" the guard fell silent, as if paying attention to something else.. "- lucky damn you." the door was opened and three heavily armed Asari walked in and took Naruto by his wrists and neck. "Have fun." the Turian howled and laughed.

"Let go, let go!" Naruto growled at the Officers and were thrown into the interrogation room.

Within the immediate room, he could see four interrogators, all circling Hinata, whom was lying on the floor.. having been beaten up to croak up the truth they were looking to get from her. And they had not been pleasant at all. They got rougher the more she continued to persist in that she and the others are innocent. Her right eye seemed slightly swollen, and the iris had taken a deeper shade of purple.. the signs of a vertical scar having appeared as well. She barely kept the Sanbi from rising up to defend it's host.

But Naruto did not appear to be willing to be so withheld. He tried to wrestle himself free of the Officers whom had again gone to grab him, trying to launch himself at the interrogators with the intention of beating the snot out of them.

"And here we got the other crime brat." The Human of the four began... "I swear, they keep getting younger."

"Why don't you two drop the fucking act? You are both murderous scumbags whom have no deserving of a fair trial. Make it easy for all of us and admit you committed those heinous crimes." Another Asari glowered at the boy.

"B-but... we h-haven't." Hinata tried to protest, only to receive a sharp kick against the back of her head.

"Shut it, no ones buying it!"

"S-stop that!" Naruto growled, barely restraining his anger enough to actually form words.

The Asari gave a mocking grin as she grabbed the bruised girl by her jacket and pulled her up.. "A sweetie pie of yours?" she mocked and shook Hinata while she whimpered. "Think we can still use this girl. You tell us what we want to know, or this little girl will stay in pain."

Naruto shook in rage.. his eyes fastened upon Hinata, whom stood in a very awkward manner.. only standing because of the woman that was holding her in an iron grip.

"W-we are innocent.. ask Shep-" Hinata tried to protest again, only to be thrown to the ground again, with an added kick for additional measure.

With that, something snapped in Naruto, and his eyes flashed red as the Chakra of the fox emerged.

* * *

"Alright, here we are." Garrus spoke as he and the Shinobi followed him out of the air cab.

Kisame looked about the district.. the wards looked the same everywhere. "This is it?"

"Yeah, Zakera end station is right up ahea-" he did not manage to finish his sentence before a large section of the station exploded violently, ripping vast chunks out of the building's surface blowing the resulting debris across a very wide area, crashing into vehicles and surrounding buildings while the civilian populace scattered from the devastation in fear, taking cover to avoid becoming an extension of the already massive amount of collateral damage. The explosion filled the space above them, complete with a screaming figure that greatly resembled Hidan as he emerged from the fire and crashed into a nearby vehicle with sufficient force to crumple it. Garrus stared at it all with the Turian expression for horror. As he stared at the surroundings, and eventually stared upon the vehicle which Hidan crashed into, a sinking feeling inside of him that one of the Kalinin had just died in front of him.

But Konan calmly approached the wreck.. "Hidan.. what the hell are you doing?"

"Hey, I just thought I would take the pleasure route through the ungodly pain of being blown out by an explosion and fall screaming to my death. Thank you for your concern." Hidan's groaning and completely deadpan voice echoed as he pulled himself free with some effort and tumbled off the vehicle and landed on the ground to Garrus' disbelief.. the man seemingly untouched by all that had gone on and seemingly nowhere worse from the wear.

"Ouch, this is going to sting in the morning." Hidan growled as he slowly scraped himself off the ground. But he was met by Konan's icy glare and he quacked out what he believed happened immediately with no further ado.. "Fox boy just went crazy."

The woman let out a tired sigh as she turned back to the destruction ahead.. "So it would seem. Kisame... if things come to the worst. You'll have to restrain Naruto."

Kisame nodded as he removed the heavy cloth that had been used to disguise his weapon and brandished it. He seemed to think that things are taking a more interesting turn. Though it's by far not what anyone of them wanted to occur, including the rest that lived in Zakera ward.

* * *

Nagato and Onoki could not help but marvel at the splendor of the Presidium, the beating diplomatic heart of the galaxy. Pristine clean structures and a beautiful artificial lake among many other things. Though the latter did not think the highest of it's inhabitants, a bunch of diplomats who carried themselves like champions of war, even though they might have never even touched a weapon in their whole lives. To the old Tsuchikage, they all seemed complacent.

They soon entered the area that contained all the embassies belonging to the various alien nations of the galaxy. The Human embassy itself though had changed into the Office of the newest addition to the Council. The group passed through a number of doors, crossing a couple of inner checkpoints before finally coming up on to the room where the coming meeting's about to be held.

And some talks seemed to be going on already.

"This meeting would be more productive if Udina was to join us." A female voice spoke up, belonging to the Asari councilor.

"My adviser are unavailable at the moment. As Councilor, I represent the voice of Humanity and the Alliance." a gruff voice replied matter-of-factly.

"Here we are, make sure to behave." Shepard remarked to the others, in particularly towards the Shinobi.

"You're certainly the one to talk, Shepard." Tali giggled.. Mordin shook his head in an absent-minded manner.

Nagato and Onoki said nothing in reply, simply following the rest through the door. "Shepard will be here any- oh, Commander. We were just talking about you." The aging eyes of the Tsuchikage noted that the Human council carried himself much more like a Soldier than all the others he have seen on the Presidium so far.

Shepard and Anderson exchanged a few comforting words, very much like old friends that haven't met in a long time. However, that moment was merely fleeting.. broken as soon as the Salarian councilor interjected. "We have heard rumors surrounding you're unexpected return. Some of them are... unsettling."

"We called this meeting so that you could explain your actions, Shepard. We owe you that much." the Asari councilor noted. "After all, you saved our lives in the battle against Saren and the Geth."

This tidbit of information got Nagato wondering, their knowledge of the galaxy are quite spotty even after all the previous efforts to study galactic society. This latest news made the Shinobi make a mental note to research the history of recent years, especially the conflicts that occurred during that time.

"The Collectors are abducting entire Human colonies in the Terminus systems. Worse, we think they're working for the Reapers." Shepard explained.. Reapers, that very name sounded very ominous... however, the councilors did not even flinch.

The next that they discussed caused Nagato to drift towards the screen at which Tali and Mordin was watching. This was more Onoki's territory, politics. However, he could very clearly hear the half-mocking tone spoken by the Turian councilor regarding the so-called Reapers. If the name sounded ill-boding, the description sounded even more so.

They basically went over the basic outline the whole Reaper affair, All along the councilors gave the impression that they did not even remotely believe in what Shepard was saying like it was an implanted lie. Nagato agreed somewhat with the council about Shepard's claims. But they should of at least take it up for consideration. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. At least that Turian should not had blown Shepard off like that.

It all ended up with Shepard being reinstated as a Spectre, Onoki did not really know what to make of that.

"Good luck with your investigation Shepard. We hope for a quick resolution and a quick end to you're relationship to Cerberus." The Asari finally declared, motioning towards ending the meeting when Shepard raised a hand.

"There is one more thing that I need to talk to you about." Shepard said, gesturing to Onoki and Nagato.

"What is it now, Shepard?" the Turian replied with an annoyed tone. But the other two remained quiet, though not entirely pleased towards having this meetings stretched on.

"While we were in the Terminus systems, close to Geth space in the outer rim. We investigated transmissions coming from the planet named Kalin 3 according to the galactic map. Encountering a sapient species living there in the process." Shepard explained at first.. "For convenience we refer to them as Kalinin."

The Asari seemed to brighten up.. "And I hope you followed first contact procedure according to Galactic law and etiquette?"

"Unfortunately, it could not be done. The Kalinin had been invaded by the Geth months ago. By the time we found them, only ruins remained of their civilization." Shepard continued, shaking his head slowly. "They weren't nearly advanced enough to resist the Geth effectively. By the time we arrived, their population had been reduced to a single digit number. The planet was almost completely destroyed. We went ground side and succeeded in evacuating the survivors before the Geth could finish them off."

"In what technological stage were they in?" The Salarian asked darkly.

"They were about the industrial level. But they are the first civilization encountered to my knowledge that had not yet invented guns even at such a late stage."

"And how exactly did they survive such a war for 'months' without firearms? They should have lost within weeks, if not days if that's the case." The Turian asked, unbelieving.

Shepard nodded. "Yes, that surprised us as well. And we were just getting to that." he gestured to Mordin.

Said Salarian did not hesitate as he strode towards the fore. He offered the council a curt nod before moving on.. He started up a program in his omni-tool and a somewhat large screen formed, showing a technical image of a Humanoid shape, sporting a network of veins marked with blue. The Kalinin's unique Chakra pathway system. The council peering at the image in curiosity, wondering what it had to do with the survival of that species for months without weapons such as firearms. The image changed, simulating activity within this system of veins along with a diagram displaying a change in it's energy signature.

"The Kalinin survived so long because their norms of combat revolve around paranormal warfare. They use this energy network within their bodies to perform special abilities that they refer to as Jutsu."

"You're saying they are natural biotics?" the Salarian councilor asked curiously. She sounded quite intrigued.

"No. Biotics create mass effect fields by using Element Zero nodules embedded in body tissues. The Kalinin however deploy the energy within their bodies, referred to as Chakra, by molding it and letting it flow out of their bodies through so-called Chakra points, or tenketsu in their language." Shepard explained at length. "They then manipulate the released Chakra to create an effect that would not be possible otherwise, such as walking on water, exhaling fire. And that's just the tip of the ice berg. Biotics don't even come close." The Commander performed some information gathering himself over the last weeks.

"You've seen them actually do this?" Anderson asked, finding it very hard to believe.

"Yes. I've seen them up close what they can do. What a few of them did on Illium alone stands testament to that fact."

Anderson thought that over.. "Come to think about it, the media did refer to what seemed like supernatural phenomenons happening in Nos Astra. They said something about one of the Dantius towers were broken in half... the upper half somehow hovering, and the detections of an additional gravity well."

"Yeah. I was there. One of the Kalinin did that. Though technically it was done in order to help a comrade of his."

"Just one committed such a feat? You must be joking, Shepard." The Turian replied gruffly.

Shepard shook his head.. "You may as well meet the one who did it. I brought two of them with me." he gestured to the two whom stood a bit further away.

"Thanks for putting us on display here." Onoki remarked sarcastically, less than pleased for being invited into the conversation at such a time. "If that was your intention, one of the young ones would have been more suited."

"Guess you overlooked the memo." Nagato replied flatly, though he intended it as a joke.

A laugh.. "Amusing, so these are some of the survivors you picked up. An oddball and a decrepit..." the Turian did not get to finish his sentence before the hologram, the pedestal that produced it and a section of the wall behind it vanished before the sudden appearance of a large cube overlapping that immediate space. And by the time it in turn evaporated, it left quite a particular square shaped impression in the wall. The other councilors twitched, but did not make a complaint for the inconvenience... it wasn't one of their offices getting wrecked.

"Decrepit you say?" Onoki growled dangerously.

Sections of the Turian's image pressed into that of his immediate neighbor.. "Alright, you don't like being called that, I get it."

"I guess that was one of you're species so-called 'Jutsu', is it not?" the Salarian inquired with some measure of interest, craning his head forward while looking at the large hole.

"Yes." Onoki replied promptly. The aforementioned councilor promptly nodded. Showing the slightest signs of a grin for a second before it faded.

"Well, you sure did not hesitate to put yourself on display, Tsuchikage." Nagato gave off a little smirk. "But seriously, remember what Konan said."

"Be quiet, whelp. That guy asked for it." was the reply before a signal made it's report from Anderson's Office computer. "What's that?"

"Probably just Udina wanting to make a point. Shut down the link, would you?" Anderson asked, not really caring about what Udina got to bother him with this time.

Shepard took the fore at that... "Heh, you sure? He probably doesn't even know how to turn the computer off." he was interrupted within the next second.

"The hell you glaring at?" Onoki glowered at the screen where the image of Udina, communicating from what seemed like a large open area.. not the presidium in any case. Udina was about to reply in turn just as the old man looked past Udina, his eyes settling on a small crowd of people.. most with their backs turned, all but one. If there was anything in the world still capable of shocking the Tsuchikage, this appeared to be it. Even with the suit she appeared to be wearing, he recognized the woman instantly.. "K-" he stammered.. "Kurotsuchi?" ... what with the short black hair and the pupil-less pink eyes. Could this possibly be just a coincidence? The woman stood there, rigid and wearing a brown business suit, acting casual but surveying the crowd in that place with an intense stare.

"Kurot- who... ?" Nagato asked in puzzlement at the Tsuchikage's surprise, his attention completely taken even as Udina ranted about wanting to see Anderson.

"One among the elites of Iwagakure. There's a woman showing on the screen that looks just like her." Onoki replied.

Elsewhere in the room, things had gone silent. The councilor's images distorted as they seemed distracted by something. "Is there something wrong?" Anderson asked his colleagues.

But before they could answer... Tali invited herself into the conversation; "There's something in the news, about the Zakera ward." she notified them as she pointed to the screen on the other side of the room, live footage of the far end of the ward as indicated by the reporter. The view of ruined street and the practically demolished Zakera end station, the streets in total chaos. At first glance, it seemed like an extensive terrorist bombing, but noise in the background indicated a battle going on.

Everyone stared at the screen, at a loss for words. All but Onoki whom was focused on the subject on the view screen, although the camera had been dropped by Udina at that point in panic as the news of the catastrophic event spread through the Citadel. His eyes resting on the one whom looked so very much like one of his subordinates. That was, until she suddenly vanished in plain sight to his surprise. She just performed the body flicker technique.

Damn it.

"What place is this screen recording?" Onoki requested at once.

"The Council chambers of course, used in official meetings." Anderson replied promptly, raising an eyebrow at such a request in this situation.

"I need to get up there! That woman just performed the art of teleportation!" Onoki answered quickly, receiving a blank stare from Nagato. "Yes, Kurotsuchi died during the fall of Iwagakure. But she stood right there, whole and alive!"

"Can't be..." Nagato shook his head.

Shepard was going to add to the now suddenly strange situation when his communicator suddenly received a signal... it was Garrus. "What is it?"

Garrus stood in the street surveying the sheer scale of the damage, trying to call Shepard.. now for different reasons than originally intended.

"Seen the news? We are in a bad situation, Shepard." the Turian groaned as she finally got a response.

"... Don't tell me."

"Sorry sir. Jacob's group got arrested on falsified charges by C-sec and were brought to Zakera end station. By the time we got here, the whole damn situation blew out of control."

"What happened?"

"I'm not sure. My group's all here, but I have a strange feeling they know what caused this."

"Patch me through to them." was the simple request.

"Yes, sir." Garrus complied and handed it to Konan, whom eyed the communicator warily before taking it, turning away from the fuming Hidan whom just had the displeasure of receiving a car to the face from a previous explosion.

"Yes?"

"What the hell have the other group done, is there something you have been holding back on me?"

"I'll explain the specifics later. But sufficed to say, Naruto is going berserk. Hidan is with us, injured but cursing. Kisame says he have found the location of Hinata's Chakra signature. She's shaken and hurt, but not life threatening from what we know."

"How can you be sure."

"I'll explain later. We'll try to get him under control. Just pass this information to Nagato; Kyubi caused it. That is all." and the connection closed. With Shepard silently wondering what the hell she meant by that.

Everyone present watched Shepard as he made the call, and eventually he turned towards Nagato.. "Kyuubi caused it. What in hell does that mean?"

"Trouble, sufficed to say." was the blunt answer he received.

"Kisame will be able to handle it. He's the best of us at capturing people, even tailed beasts." Onoki replied.. "All we can do right now is head to the council chambers and find Kurotsuchi, on the double, I got a bad feeling!"

An ominous silence covered the room, until Tali broke the silence. "What should we do, Shepard?

Shepard released a sigh, completely at odds with himself at what to do... until; "Alright, we'll get you to the council chambers, but later I will demand an explanation."

* * *

The council rushed towards the chambers, surrounded by guards and advisers as they hastily moved to commit themselves to an emergency meeting. Anderson had been notified at the very last minute and would perhaps meet up with him at the chamber, if he's quick enough to respond.

The tense atmosphere broke apart in the corridor as the guards all around them suddenly came under attack.. their shields collapsing under a sustained assault of knives that came out of seemingly nowhere. Three howled in agony as they were burned to a crisp as a carpet of what seemed like molten magma coated them, while the rest were pierced and choked by strange tendrils that appeared out of the shadows. The fight ended before it even began, and three individuals appeared. The advisers lost their guts and fled in panic, but the assailants largely left them alone. The three council members tried to flee as well before they found themselves unable to move. The Turian councilor managed to spare a glance out of the corner of his eye at the ground as he spied a black tendril that had stabbed into his shadow. "What is the meaning of this?" he growled angrily over the hushed tones of his colleagues.

"The hour-" a female of the three spoke up as she approached the Turian... "-of your termination."


	11. Chapter 11

Hinata opened her eyes, as if waking from a nap as long as a life-time. But still never felt even remotely as tired before. A cough and she tasted copper in her mouth. Her sense of hearing was returning, bringing with it the cacophony of combat. The staccato clattering of the invaders guns, and reports of explosions all around her. The girl tried to move an arm, no. How about a leg? No. She let out a tearful clamor as pain slammed into her. Was she dying?

That was when her sight returned, seeing a medic-nin above her pressing her palms against Hinata's chest, attempting to heal her. She heard the cries of nearby people, dying cries and lamentations. Where... ? Where am I?

A voice called for her, ghostly but familiar. She tried to reach for it mentally, desperate. That was when the voice became clear as crystal... "Don't give up, never give up!"

It opened her eyes once again, but this time she appeared to be in control of her body. Was it a dream? She was surrounded by rubble, a much damaged corpse of an Asari lying just a few feet away. She moved an arm. Yes. A leg... yes. The other limbs... yes, and yes. A sigh of relief, but with a headache that matched her moment of relief.

"Hey, Hinata!" who?

"Do you hear me, how many fingers do I hold up?" a dark skinned hand appeared before her eyes.. she briefly counted.

"Two." a sigh was heard. A familiar one, not nearly as familiar as those of her kin. But... "Jacob?"

"It's me. What's going on around here? Half this damned place have been blown to hell."

Hinata pressed at the ground, trying to push herself off the ground, only doing so with little progress. Jacob was about to help. but it wasn't needed. Threads of Chakra appeared and spread across her limbs and supported the girl. The threads grew thicker. Soon, Hinata managed to climb back on her feet and half limped towards the massive hole which used to be a wall.. giving an excellent view of the area beyond Zakera end station. "Sanbi..." she coldly gasped.

A dull thump could be heard.. three blocks away, a number of vehicles plus a nearby building detonated. A shadow blurred it's way out of the flames and climbed up the neighboring towers until it got to the top and howled in rage at the bizarre horizon possessed by the Citadel. "Kyubi. No." she tried to step forth, but fell to her knees.

"Hold on, don't push yourself!" Jacob called out as he rushed forward and caught Hinata as she fell.

"D-don't help me. I just need my..." the Chakra threads grew even thicker, beginning to cover her body and slowly became denser to the point that Jacob could not even see her outline in all the blue. "S-stage, two!"

"What are you-?" Jacob cried out as a wave of air pressure blasted him into a nearby wall before he even once made contact with the ground. "-The hell?" he gasped after regaining some of his composure, enough so to look back up at the figure, not even closely resembling Hinata, a large hulking dark blue colored form, it's head slightly square in shape with pale glowing eyes and a single vertical line slashed through one of them. On it's back appeared what seemed like a grotesque turtles shell, with spikes that jutted out chaotically in every direction but two forward bend blades by it's shoulders, and from it's back sprung three tails that were much akin to those of shrimps.

It began to lumber forward to the edge and then simply walked off with no concern given to the height above ground.

Jacob got up in a hurry and ran to where the monster jumped off and stared down at the street below, where it had just crushed a car upon landing and simply continued without breaking it's pace as if nothing happened, towards the commotion much further away, openly ignoring the many people that scattered upon seeing the thing. The operative could not believe his eyes. For a moment he thought he was dreaming, maybe of a present-day Godzilla movie. No. He shook his head. This was not a dream, not even a nightmare. Something had to be done... Jacob just were at a total loss at what to do about this situation.

* * *

Much further ahead, Konan and the others were alternating between running and leaping across this metallic jungle.. aliens taken aback as the beings, looking very much like Humans were taking such magnificent leaps across more than twenty feet distance without breaking a sweat nor slowing. Konan moved ahead of the others, while Tenten lagged the furthest behind, the earlier injury still plagued her. Garrus had left in a cab, heading in the general direction to the place which Kisame said Hinata's at, and Kisame had his first encounter with the use of a phone thus far. It did not take long before he got called for.

"... Yes?" Kisame asked, acting very awkward while trying to us the thing.

"Great, you worked it out. Well, Hinata's not here. Found Jacob though, he's rambling something about the girl turning into a blue monster."

"Just what we need..." was the reply, a very sarcastic one at that. "Konan, the Hyuga girl just threw the Sanbi into the mix."

Konan whipped around mid-leap.. "She did what? Damn it!" she turned again and increased her pace. "Tell Garrus to call for his Commander, this could go down a hundred ways of bad." She and her comrades quickly got down to the ground and ducked as a air cab suddenly appeared from the gloom of the city above, which was not too hard, seeing as the vehicle's engine was still somewhat functional, it's mass effect field causing it to drift lazily through the air and bumped against the ground occasionally, but otherwise it seemed like someone had tried to stuff it into a meat grinder and thrown it away afterward.

"Wait..." Hidan drawled slowly as he watched the wreck drift by.. "Does that mark look oddly much like what those C-Sec idiots are using?" he winced at a slap to the base of his neck.

"Of course, it's C-Sec logo. I seriously doubt they'd fail to notice this damage." Tenten groaned at Hidan's slow head... reminded her of how dumb Naruto used to be in the past before the war forced him to become smarter.

"You know what concerns me the most? Look up." Kisame pointed straight up at the sky... or what they might as well dub the view that appeared very keen on showing the rest of the Citadel clearly, but what the missing-nin referred to was more likely to be that several of the Cruisers guarding the Citadel were starting to drift very close to the Zakera ward. "After what happened to our home.. I very much would prefer to not see another bombardment."

"That makes all of us, Kisame." Konan replied with a sullen mind.. and urged her team to move again and pick up speed. "All we can do is to try to end this before they decide for any drastic measures."

* * *

"As I said, the scans specifically stated that you guys were the only ones left." Shepard argued as Onoki maintained a speedy pace ahead of them.

Quite frankly, the Tsuchikage admitted.. his hips felt like they would give away any minute now. But he ignored the pain and kept going. Onoki thought with some annoyance to all these stairs from the elevator and onward. Luckily he only needed to walk up two sets before the light of hope rekindled in his mind. "This..."

"What is it, Onoki?" Nagato asked as he arrived while the rest still lagged behind, their weapons loaded and ready, with Councilor Anderson at the rear having loaned Shepard's sidearms. Mordin seemed to brighten with interest at what he saw... in the space which was relegated to form a small natural environment with various plants, trees and rocks.. had been displaced by a large semi-sphere that was dense enough to prevent the penetration of standard weaponry, proven by the many shallow cracks in the rocky shell made by bullets striking it.

"It's hollow." Onoki quickly stated as he walked up next to it and laid the palm of his hands against it.. "This is Kurotsuchi's work. Her earth dome technique."

"I don't like this. Seems like it have become a tomb." Tali nervously notified the others of the presence of dead bodies strewn about, several if not most of them located in the tiers of floors above them. "I guess Ashley was right when she commented on the possibilities of snipers."

"Gruesome indeed. What's worse. Inefficient work. Supposed to be among the best." Mordin alluded to the snipers handiwork. Lots of C-sec dead, but no signs of any bodies of their opponents. "Curious though. This one dead from... magma?" he added curiously to the sight of the closest body, out of sight where the others had yet to notice it.

"Magma you say? Could be Kurotsuchi..." Onoki muttered as he approached the corpse and knelt down besides the burned remnants. "No... this Chakra feels different." his gaze raised to examine the surroundings as if looking for something.

"Whomever attacked, did they bring an army?" Anderson wondered as he stepped forward to examine the gruesome scene. Both Kalinin shook their heads slowly.

"I don't believe so." Nagato added.. having studied several of the corpses already, and knelt down by the next one.. a fallen Salarian and rubbed along it's neck region. "I doubt it. Our kind don't work in large squadrons normally except in cases of all-out war. This could easily have been caused by a regular four-man cell."

"Just four... hardly seems possible." Anderson shook his head.

Shepard took the word from there.. "From what I have learned these last few years, nothing is impossible."

The rest nodded and turned to keep walking when Tali discovered what seemed like a black snake out of the corner of her eye. "Keelah!" she exclaimed and turned her gun towards it, loosening a bullet at it in her surprise. However, even though the bullet struck the 'snake', the bullet merely bounced off the floor.

"Bansho Ten'in." Nagato quickly muttered and pulled Tali out of the way of the attack as if with an invisible force. Everyone else quick to back off from the advancing shadow till it stopped.. as if having reached it's limit.

"This technique.. this is a Nara clan technique." Onoki exclaimed upon recognizing it.

"Much too late, much too late!" a voice shouted in the distance, one tier up within the shadows. They could all see the boy whom sat up there with a seemingly annoyed expression.. because of the armor he was wearing, the boy was difficult to recognize. However, the voice was decidedly feminine and belonged to the one whom stood right next to the boy in a mocking posture. "The councilors will be dead in a minute. Number three won't fail!"

"Kurotsuchi, cease this action immediately!" Onoki demanded.. "This is a direct order!"

The girls eyes seemingly twitched.. "No can... do, old man!" pain crossing her features before relaxing back to her mocking posture. "You're in no position to be giving us orders!" and the boy next to her shifted position, brandishing a pistol and shot a flare up in the air to cast further shadows upon the scene before several more shadows started to snake their out of the shadows towards the intended victims.

"Scatter, don't get caught in those shadows!" Onoki quickly barked at the others, whom were more than willing to comply. Except Nagato whom were preparing an attack.. "No, Nagato.. I'll take care of those, you go and save those councilors, damn it!"

Shepard, Tali and Mordin were way ahead of them both as they hurried along with Anderson towards the back of the council chambers.. "Nagato, go with them." the Tsuchikage told the other.. whom only slowly nodded before complying.

"Hah, getting cold feet you guy-" Kurotsuchi tried to continue, but were occupied by the attention of a now much closer Tsuchikage as the old man levitated up through the air and closed in on both the young-nins.

"Take this! Jinton: Genkai Hakuri no Jutsu!" Onoki struck the very outcrop in the wall that Kurotsuchi and the other stood upon with his dust release technique and utterly atomized it. The opposing Shinobi did not even get the time to change location before they plummeted to the floor below.

The two were caught by surprise, but managed to land on their feet, Chakra focused across their bodies to suppress the force upon landing. And immediately retaliated. "Kage Nui no Jutsu!" - "Yoton: Sekkaigyo no Jutsu!" resounded through the chamber as Onoki realigned himself for further attacks, all along constantly trying to evade all the materialized shadows that tried to reach out to grab him, not to mention all the quicklime projectiles that filled the air.

Onoki continued to accelerate, charging towards the Nara brat, whom realigning his shadows accordingly to intercept. "Too late!" the old man gruffly said as he closed the gap. "Doton: Kajugan no Jutsu!" he rammed into the boy.. intentionally decreasing the power of the technique so that he'd only turn the kids clothes into solid rock. "One down."

The Nara crashed into a pillar further away, and performed no further action, having no momentum with which to break the rock.

He stepped back just in time to avoid another projectile from Kurotsuchi and quickly took flight again. "Don't mess with your elders, kids." the aging Tsuchikage muttered he closed the distance within a heartbeat.

"What, a punch? Get over yourse-" the girl groaned as she suddenly found herself flying through the air and crashed soundly into the semi-sphere that she had made earlier. Not managing to recover before Onoki had closed the distance again and petrified her clothes.

And thus as he finished the fight and at last took a good close look of the girls face as she fervently tried to move... he whispered in a sullen manner; "What happened to you... my grand daughter."

* * *

The Illusive man slammed his fist against the arm of his chair once he got the message. Damn it. The fencing of the Kalinin on Zakera ward did not go as planned. First the C-Sec failed to find the second group. And now, those caught were in no position to be fetched.

And thus, in a fit of panic, his operatives on the Citadel ordered the newly formed Z-1 group to bring down the council. He had given them the order to recall the group before the situation worsened. But something went wrong, as Z-1 entered the battle, the signals from the control chips were being disrupted somehow by a field of energy.

It took the Illusive man several seconds to process the information and found a sound theory about why. It was the Chakra pathway system in the subjects bodies that were interfering with the modules, causing them to ignore subsequent orders. Maybe heightened activity increase the amount of energy?

Basically confirmed regarding Number three, the strength of her Chakra appear to be so great that her module are malfunctioning, causing her to become mentally unbalanced in the process. The operatives managed to get a drone in to observe her... and discovered that she are treating the council much like a cat playing with a group of mice.

He realized that it was a mistake trying to make them obedient the same way he could do with other beings. Similar to the mistake of treating the Rachni like animals. No expense would be saved to ensure that future implants will be made much better than those before. Providing energy shielding for the implants could help as well. Despite the disaster the mission are turning into... it was turning out to be quite educational.

However, despite the situation... something good might come out of it. It was a guess, but one supported by a single line of thought. In a galaxy that have, despite recent occurrences changed little across thousands of years. One fault due to everyone having the same level of technology. Minimal competition. Almost static. Then out of nowhere, a race emerge that possess super powers, and weapons of mass destruction that nothing could detect before it's too late, if the destruction happening in the Zakera wards are of any indication. Combined, they introduce an extremely massive unbalancing force to the galaxy. Naturally, the people would get frightened, and governments and various factions will fall over across and struggle amongst each others as they seek to claim that power for themselves.

That was partially what he hoped, it would isolate the Kalinin further and make them desperate to save themselves. And would thus be easy prey next time Cerberus try to advance against them.

* * *

Shepard's group had advanced far into the corridor's beyond the Council chambers where the more private rooms are located among many others used by the government of Citadel space. For all intents and purposes it's living beating heart. Tali took point into the next room, a small meeting room with a semi-circular table before a great screen. She was amazed by the exquisite detail in the chambers decor, many of the rooms decorated in such a manner for the comfort of councilor's and diplomats alike during the heat of negotiations taking place.

It was eerily silent however, as if something was about to jump out. But nothing happened.

"Room's clear, Commander." she quickly and softly reported to Shepard.

Mordin however cut in past her in a more official manner as if something caught his interest. "Wait. What is that?" was his simple question as he observed the main screen, which showed live footage of what seemed like a street of the Citadel having been turned into a war zone.

Judging by the position of the camera, it appeared to be lying on the ground sidewards while the upper left of the screen was cracked, perhaps from the fall.

"It seems like the situation in the wards are worse than anticipated." Shepard guessed from observing the footage.. "But what could.." a roar from the screens speakers interrupted him.

Two armored bodies, presumably C-Sec were thrown past the camera vision, the silence following broken by another roar as a creature appeared. It looked very vaguely like a fox from hell covered in no fur, but instead coated in a swirling mass of blood. Armored in a primitive fashion, a larger skeleton covering it's features. It seemed to turn towards the camera.. it's eyes completely blank circles that continually distorted between confusion and rage.

Gunfire could be heard, and bullets struck the demon... however, the bullets did not seem to have any effect on the beast, it merely growled in response. The creature initiated an attack, and the screen went black.

"What was that?" Tali mouthed, her voice breaking.

"Kyubi." Nagato replied in a grim manner.

"That's the Kyubi you referred to earlier? What the hell is that?"

"I did say that I will explain it later.. but right now we have more immediate concerns, Konan and the rest will deal with the Kyubi."

Shepard grew frustrated, but shook it off. "Fine, but that later better arrive soon. Let's move people!" he shouted as he took point and led the rest, with Nagato following behind Tali and Mordin. Anderson kept silent the whole time, as if trying to formulate thoughts on the subject, maintaining a ghostly stare at the black screen before finally following the others.. clutching his weapon all the tighter while doing so. 'What in the world are we up against?' he thought to himself.

* * *

Konan and the others were now on final approach, but before they could enter the combat area, there appeared to be a lone barricade they need to get through.

"Excuse me..." Konan began carefully to the first officer she reached whom were focusing more on the devastated area beyond the barricade than those coming from behind. "We need to ge-" she placed a palm on his shoulder... a mistake on her part.

The officer in question was used to the ordinary paper cutter variety criminal, not a full war scenario... and especially not one containing an eldritch abomination. He as well as the colleagues were highly nervous and rested a shaking finger on the trigger of their guns. Only acknowledging Konan's presence the moment she placed her hand on his shoulder... a hand which seemed to split into paper for a slight second as the man suddenly panicked, and whirled towards her, guns blazing.

Konan saw it coming, but had no time to evade.. the man brought up the gun and shot her, dozens of bullets racing out of his rifle. However, Konan's body simply split apart into a whirlwind of paper that would soon reassemble itself. Tenten already threw herself out of the way and pulled Hidan along as well, though a bullet found it's way into his side. However, several more impacted Kisame.

"Kisame! Why you-!" Konan gasped and in anger knocked the C-Sec officer out cold with one straight punch before rushing to the missing-nin. "You alright?" she urgently asked of the downed Shinobi.

"Gah.. ugh. Can... handle the... wounds!" he tried to climb up, but collapsed back to the ground.. "But the damned bullets, hurts like hell to move." he groaned in pain.

"Without Kisame, our chances to suppress Kyubi have lessened greatly."

"Goddamn shit. I... hate... guns!"

"What will we do now?" Tenten asked, expressing herself very nervously while Hidan limped a few steps forward while clutching his side as he hurled a storm of expletives in the general direction of the rest of the officers, whom seemed just as shocked as the one whom accidentally shot Kisame. All greenhorns from the looks of it.

"I... don't know. If only..." the woman's attention was distracted by the presence of an air cab landing at their location.. Garrus exiting the vehicle as soon as it had made landfall.

"Why did you sto- oh." Garrus began to ask once he left the vehicle, only to see the reason, evident from the twitch of his mandibles.. and partially because of the hard glares he received from the girls in the group. Kisame did not care much to provide attention to anything but the bullets.. and the other was apparently more busy shouting at those manning the barricade. "As if things could not get worse." the Turian softly lamented.

"Yes, all we can do now is to rely on Hinata to suppress it. With the power of the Sanbi, she should be able to. Though it's not the most ideal solution."

* * *

Shepard's group had stopped after following the corridor around at least three bends, every room along the way either untouched or ravaged. However, they soon came across several bodies.

"Negative life signs, Commander." Tali sighed as she crouched next to a Turian with numerous stab wounds. "These seem like they have been killed more recently than those before."

"That means we are on the right path. Push on." Shepard insisted, and the rest of the group nodded and followed accordingly. And soon they arrived at an elevator... Nagato groaned at the sight. "Get in people, we have wasted enough time." he shouted, particularly aimed at the Shinobi whom stepped in only reluctantly.

Everyone got on shortly, allowing the elevator to move. Shepard and the others waited, fully alert, and ready for whatever was to come. Upon arriving at the only destination that the contraption could reach, the group ushered out quickly and fanned out.

"Everyone spread out. They can't be far away." Anderson took the helm at the moment.. the others took a sidelong glance at him before moving as ordered at a nod from Shepard.

"What is this place?" Nagato asked somewhat in awe upon reaching a massive open space within the tower. The greater Council chambers beneath the one which is normally used for small, private to semi-official meetings.

This place though, looked like a massive amphitheater. A large oval with thousands of seats.. enough for every diplomat from every race in Citadel space. At the top of the oval, he could see a few platforms, for purposes that Nagato could not fathom at this time. At the opposite side, a stage upon which a quartet of seats stood. Slightly awkward in emplacement due to the relatively recent fourth addition to the Citadel Council. However, as the group discovered, three of the seats are currently occupied.

The Councilor's had been tied up and gagged... writhing against their restraints, the struggles of the Turian of the three being the most intense, refusing to yield.

"Took you long enough." a woman's voice spoke up.

"Whoever it is, show yourself!" Anderson barked a demand, receiving nothing but a giggle in response as the one whom spoke appeared atop the platform commonly referred to as the Petitioner's stage.

Nagato's mouth dropped open in surprise.. "Impossible."

"You know her?" Tali asked, peering at the woman with her shotgun raised. She seemed defenseless, wearing little but a long blue dress that reached down to her ankles.. however it was as though she radiated a brilliant aura of power.

"Mei Terumi.. Fifth Mizukage of Kirigakure no sato." Nagato whispered the answer. Tali was about to answer to that, but was cut off as he quickly raised a hand and blasted away a globule of lava launched by Mei towards Tali with his Shinra Tensei.

"Nagato, you take care of her. We'll fetch the council and get out of here." Shepard shouted at the lone Kalinin before locating and stepping down the closest set of stairs while the rest followed him. Nagato however stayed behind, facing the Mizukage as she had managed to drive herself into a rant about how little a challenge the fighters of this station were.. but something felt wrong. He did not know her first-hand, but if earlier descriptions were accurate, she's nothing like this.. almost as if she had become a different person. But how, why?

Their minds darkened on both sides, Nagato believed that, against a powerful Shinobi such as she.. he would have no choice but to fight as to kill her in order to capture her. Each twirled into a metaphorical spring, gathering strength everywhere that mattered, focus near absolute. One movement from each and their battle began.

Shepard led his team down the stairs towards the Council's podium in a hurry, occasionally dodging improvised projectiles darting from the battle occurring behind them. It did not take long before they finally arrived at the Councilor's. "Don't worry, we'll get you out."

"I really hope so, Shepard." The Asari councilor coughed as her gag was removed, Anderson working quickly to undo the bindings.

The Turian however was less pleased, Tali had gone over to release him from the bindings.. but he tried to kick her rather than let the Quarian get close... something which she angrily responded to. "You want help or shall we leave you behind?"

"Now now, at this time we have no time being picky." The Salarian councilor objected to his colleagues behavior.. his attention mostly maintained on the fight before them as Nagato and Mei fought it out before them a fair distance away. The former launched a large number of chairs from around the great chamber, blowing them at the Mizukage like improvised projectiles.. which the woman negated through a very wide spread umbrella of red hot magma that melted the chairs into miniature meteors, turning them towards Nagato instead. It sounded simple, but the entirety of the chamber was starting to look more and more like a disaster-area. For those not involved, it became apparent that leaving the area would be the wisest thing to do, lest the spectators ended up as collateral. But the Salarian watched the fight with great fascination, though also with great terror.

Mordin was likewise captivated. "Fascinating. They commit to such a way of battle. On a regular basis.." he released a sigh before turning to the others.. "Best we leave, now! They draw closer."

"Everybody move, before we are caught up in this." Shepard shouted, at which the extended group began to vacate the podium and rush towards the exit in the very back, the only way to evade the fight at this point. "Get in." he ushered in everyone, almost having to push the Salarians through the entrance before leaving as well. Just before a stray lava projectile struck the door surface.

With a jerk, Nagato used Bansho Ten'in to pull a pillar from the distant wall and used it to block the projectiles in rapid motions before blasting it at the Mizukage, whom countered the movement with a spray of lava... and raised the acidic level in the air around her to such a degree that the pillar corroded and snapped in half before it reached her.

The Asari locked the door the moment they were all in.. The room appeared to be a rather small office, similar in size to the embassies in the presidium. But lacked much in the manner of ornaments and furniture.

"Monsters, all of them. Best we get rid of them before anything else occur." the Turian angrily uttered.. his fist trembling under the force of his own rage.

"To think that such beings exist in the galaxy. I must admit it is unsettling." Anderson added in, "But still, you should not judge them too quickly." the Turian councilor was going to throw in a heated remark, but a sound interrupted their argument.

Shepard had gotten another call from Garrus, receiving another update on the situation down in the wards. For most of the conversation, the Commander simply whispered. But towards the end, he could only sigh as he rubbed his temples.. "Mordin, what would be militarily worse than the shit hitting the fan?" but did not let the scientist come with an answer.. "Yes, situations gone fubar."

"Something happened on their end?" Tali asked nervously, but wishing to know.

"From what I can gather. The only one who can suppress the so-called Kyubi have been accidentally shot by a skittish C-Sec Officer, and are now unfit for combat."

"Anything the others can do, what can we do?"

"Nothing at the moment. At this time, the Kyubi continues to rampage through Zakera. And now, supposedly from what I hear, another such monster have appeared, Sanbi, heading in the direction of the former."

"Is that good, or bad?" Anderson asked, his voice hard.

"Garrus said it depended on... how Hinata handles it. In the worst case scenario, we're looking at a cataclysmic confrontation."

The Turian councilor quickly left for a nearby terminal.. "This is an outrage, I will not permit this.. this farce to go on any further." he pressed a button, prompting the appearance of a VI. Took a long look back at his slightly confused colleagues, most likely wanting to inquire about the monsters.. the rest watched him instead, perhaps suspicious about his intentions.

"VI, top priority message! Connect to the Destiny Ascension. I request Matriarch Lidanya's presence, immediately."

"I personally believe that is too drastic a measure to take." The Salarian countered, referring to his colleague.

"Too drastic? We got two monsters tearing up the Citadel which have stayed pristine for almost fifty thousand years. I'd say wiping out the Kalinin would be the best option we got, and good riddance!" the Turian replied angrily, his mandibles twitching as he waited for an answer.

"Hold on now. We don't know the reason, nor the nature of those things. And Nagato said that he will explain once the problem is solved." Shepard invaded the conversation between the councilor's.

Anderson entered the debate after a moment of thought... "I agree that all options should be considered, but let that bombardment be our last resort if the Kalinin can't stop it." an explosion could be heard outside, no doubt the fight was still ongoing.

"It is already the time for our last resort. You said it yourself, Shepard! The one to restrain the monsters have been incapacitated." The Turian objected, every word dripping with venom. "Time to end this!"

"I apologize to break up the tension. But check it out..." Tali murmured as she pointed towards a different screen which Mordin worked on till it displayed a wrecked section of the wards. It seemed to be a direct news feed as a hovering drone moved into the most recent scene of the demons rampage. The place had suffered terrible damage, but at the very least there are no people in sight.

"Seems like C-Sec managed to evacuate the area." The Asari councilor noted with some relief, before the sensation was overtaken by dread as the screen shifted around the next corner and stared at what could be best described as a demon, a beast with six tails.

"That's the Kyubi, we've been told." Shepard noted to the alien councilor's. "What I wonder is... is it really possible to kill something like that?"

"It stopped. Why. No catalyst other than..." Mordin tried to make sense of it until the screen revealed more of the area. The demon appeared to have been focusing all of it's attention on something which the people in the Citadel largely takes for granted. A Keeper. A sleeping Keeper to be more precise. The beast in an apparent state of confusion glared at the insect with all the hatred and malice it was capable of, but the creature did not even budge.

However, this seemingly tranquil moment ended as the monster emitted an enraged roar before it raised a clawed fist in the air and struck the Keeper. The result was impossible to know, since the screen went dark the moment the strike connected.

Everyone paused, glaring at the screen as if hoping for the image to return. "Whatever happened, that Keeper's probably dead now." Tali whispered.

"Obviously." Mordin added, morbidly fascinated.

"What is going on, Councilor?" a synthetic voice spoke up, coming from the other screen, the image of the Destiny Ascension's head of command, Matriarch Lidanya appearing before them. She regarded the people in the room with some concern. "We have been trying to contact you, but couldn't reach you.. or anyone else in the tower for that matter."

"The blasted Kalinin are the cause of all this." The Turian councilor threw in before others could pipe in.

"Who...? There's no Geth?" Lidanya replied, the name clearly unfamiliar.

"No matter, what's the situation in the wards?"

"Situation are critical, but the mess are contained in the far side of Zakera. Twenty percent of the ward's surface is damaged. Losses unknown. I have had C-Sec erect barricades around the area, giving whatever is down there a wide berth until we have assembled a sufficient force to engage it fully."

"Matriarch Lidanya. Do not hesitate the use of GUARDIAN lasers if you deem it necessary." A few sighs penetrating the space around the Turian. He had to raise the voice somewhat as the amount of background noise increased, especially from the other room.. which seemed to be reaching a climax.

"Of course, Councilor." Lidanya replied.. "Squads of C-Sec attempted minor skirmishes with the threat before I took command, but none of those whom engaged it have returned. Now that we have evacuated the area and kept our distance. It's movements have gotten less erratic."

"Sounds somewhat like the behavior of an animal. Malicious when challenged, but calm when left alone." The Tali offered her thought.

"Exactly what we thought." Lidanya nodded in agreement to the assessment.

"If you are going to attack it head on. I suggest we link up with the Kalinin who's down there in Zakera. Garrus said they could not proceed any further due to a barricade. See if there have been an occurrence involving an Officer gunning down a bystander." Shepard threw in a suggestion very clearly.

"Nonsense, they cannot be trust-" The Turian councilor tried to object.

"I will see what I can find." Lidanya shot in, interrupting the politician in the process. Only accepting due to the sheer ambiguity of the situation, and that she had just gotten the latest situation reports from stationed teams. She quickly opened them on her personal PDA and skimmed through the contents until she found one that stood out; A nervous officer had by mistake shot at a oddly clothed bunch of people and injured one whom sported blue skin. Another was hit, a woman, but emerged unharmed... body splitting into paper, whatever that meant.

"Yes. They seem to be located at position ZC-42. I'll have the team down there link up with them." Lidanya confirmed, to the Turian's apparent annoyance.

It was only with this that they began to notice the silence that descended on the area.. Tali walked to the door, daring to take a look at how things are outside.. The Quarian hefted a shotgun. She nearly used it too as the door suddenly slid open. Nagato himself entered the room, his hair lightly singed and patches of his black cloak had been scorched. He carried some injuries as well evident of his apparent limping. But the man still found enough effort to be carrying an unconscious Mizukage on his left shoulder. She had taken a great beating from the looks of it, her dress covered in ragged cuts among other damages.

"I suppose the situation is under control here, for now?" Shepard asked.

Nagato nodded.. "Yes, just checking in. I'll go back and see if Onoki are done as well."

"And I hope your little fight have kept the area damage down to a minimum?" The Asari councilor asked, but received only several seconds of awkward silence.

"It'll live..." Nagato replied at length, slowly at that. "Best get going." and left the room in a hurry.

Tali had caught a glimpse of the chamber beyond and did not need prompting to get back... sufficient to say, she had watched disaster footage with less damage to the vicinity. The word apocalypse came to mind. No one else looked, and complete silence ruled as everyone waited.

* * *

"We are so royally screwed, thank you guys!" Hidan shouted at the C-Sec officers across the barricade, many of which had begun to gesticulate angrily at him.

"Hardly begins to describe our situation." Tenten quietly mumbled in agreement. "What shall we do?"

"All we can do is hope the-" Konan spoke before she were interrupted by an approaching Officer while she was watching over the aching Kisame on the ground.

"I guess you are Kalinin...?" the Officer asked carefully, a Human by the name of Banes according to the nameplate upon his chest.

"That's what people call us, yes."

"Come with me. A line have been established between us here and the Council chambers. Shepard would like to see you, now."

"A message or... ?" she fumbled with the words for a moment before she straightened up. "Get a medical crew for our comrade here, please. Hidan, stay with him."

"Best I stay here, these don't look like diplomatic types." Garrus offered, his eyes on Hidan and Kisame.

"I'll get a crew here asap. Please go to the large vehicle over there." Banes responded, choosing different words for the APC that stood in the far end of the barricade before he hurried off to fulfill the other request.

"Gh, at last an officer who are actually useful." Kisame growled, attempting a chuckle but found it too painful and quickly stopped.

Konan motioned for Tenten to follow her to the APC referred to.. They were allowed to enter after a question from those outside it. They lowered their heads so as to enter the cramped space within the vehicle. A large screen established on the left-hand wall.

What they saw was an angry Turian... or at least he looked angry. Konan generally thought of Turians as hard to read.. "You sure took your sweet time."

"Shepard." Konan spoke dryly, waving the councilor off, much to his chagrin.

Shepard pressed himself into view and regarded the two on the other side. "We are in one hell of a situation. There were Kalinin up here, trying to assassinate the Council." he raised a hand at Konan's look of surprise. "Nagato and Onoki seems to have defeated them though."

"I had no idea there were other survivors... even less how they left home." Konan responded softly.

"I have my own little theory, but that can wait. Right now, we got a pair of wrecking crews worth of trouble causing havoc. Kyuubi and Sanbi. Nagato have been very sparse with the information. We need to know, what the hell are they?"

Konan seemed to lower her head into thought about it all.. about what to answer. Little choice remained, no option appeared to her.. just the pale truth. He raised her head up to face the screen. "Naruto and Hinata... are Jinchuriki."

"What, they aren't Kalinin?" A Human males voice could be heard, a crowd bunching up on the screen. Those whom weren't part of Shepard's squad possibly being the Citadel council, or that was her guess anyway.

"They are." she answered, idly wondering why people kept pushing that 'Kalinin' name on her and the others. "Jinchuriki are people with Tailed Beasts sealed up within them." she kept going, ignoring the next question.. knowing that what she's about to tell would be sufficient to answer most of their questions. "Tailed Beasts, or Biju as we call them. Are a group of Nine giant Demons."

"People, this is absurd." The Turian on the screen said, rejecting the explanation.

"Isn't it some form of technology you have yet to understand? Some sort of an Out of place artifact?" Tali interjected.

Konan shook her head.. "I explained the first part of the whole thing related to the Tailed Beasts to that second in command of yours, Shepard."

"But she never came forth with it to me." Shepard replied.

"Alright, sharpen you're ears and pay attention." Konan shouted, much like a teacher that demanded discipline. Tenten almost jumped out of her seat at the outburst. Those on the other side either looked insulted or had taken an involuntary step back from the screen. "I will explain the history of the Tailed Beasts, but I'll have to start far back at the earliest part of history we have recorded. This is their story." she spoke, more softly. And began telling the onlookers in full.


	12. Chapter 12

The Kyubi continued it's rampage, crushing a barricade underfoot after having disposed of all those it could see dare to resist it's continued advance. The beast swelled with hatred... confused and frustrated from having found nothing that looked even remotely like the wild. It was in a huge city linked to a strange formation of metal that it can't ever remember of having seen before.. the sky above filled with either stars or those strange metal ships that were flying far above.

Nothing was recognizable, nothing made any sense. The Kyubi figured it had been caught in a Genjutsu and constantly changed back and forth from disturbing it's hosts Chakra and generally demolishing the surroundings, but nothing seemed to work.

The beast howled at the strange reality surrounding it, an unnatural wind blasting through the nearby streets. Downright deafening. Whomever still alive nearby crept further into hiding and tried to block the outer world from their minds in desperation.

This howl stopped as something with an immense Chakra signature just smashed it's bulk into the metallic street behind the Kyubi. The beast turned and looked upon a fellow tailed beast. One look was enough to discern that the other was mostly represented as a demon cloak surrounding a host of it's own, just as the Kyubi's situation was.

The Sanbi.

The air seemed to turn ethereal. What was clear sky turned into a thick mist. Whispers surrounded it, voices which the Kyubi's host would be certain to recognize, his Chakra stirring as the mist messed with the senses of the host. One voice in particular though, a feminine voice coming from the Sanbi's host crying out to Naruto.

The Nine-tails growled a warning, pulling a clawed hand back and lashed out in a punch, the arm extending towards the Sanbi at with enough force to turn thick walls into rubble. In response, the Sanbi emitted a sonic blast and almost stopped the claw dead in it's tracks, blowing away several nearby vehicles for good measure.

The challenge had been made, the battle between the Chakra monsters were joined.

* * *

The small back room in the Citadel Tower turned silent, Konan had just finished telling what she knew about the Tailed beasts, all lined up in a summary without fail. So now the parties on either end were stuck either staring at each other or contemplating the information, in particular Mordin whom did not hesitate to put his thoughts into words, mostly to himself. No one familiar with his quirks minded.

The ice broke apart as the screen image split in two however, with Matriarch Lidanya appearing in the other half.

"I apologize for intruding, but the energy signs of the two known entities have merged. Drones on sight are unable to get a sighting, the area are filled with mist. We don't know what is going on, but the signatures are fluctuating."

"That can only mean one thing, they are in fighting each others at this very moment." Konan concluded.

"How can you be so sure? What if they have joined forces?" Shepard inquired.

"Though each of them are fragments, they are hostile even towards each other." Konan replied with a sigh.. "Now all we can do is hope that Hinata can control the Sanbi enough so as to suppress the Kyubi."

"No! We cannot take anymore chances with these troublesome creatures. we must strike them down now while they are together in one spot!" The Turian councilor demanded, raising a fist to get that point across.

"As much as I wish for them to end the fight on their own. We can't stand by and let them damage the Citadel any further. I agree that action must be taken." The Asari councilor agreed. Their Salarian councilor however held his tongue, his species usually are very quick to make up their minds... but now he seemed silent. Everyone stared at him.

"I disagree." Anderson notified the others.

"Unfortunately, that may not be up to you.. What say you?" The Turian spoke to his Salarian colleague.

Truth be told, he felt uncertain. On one hand, it was a huge threat to Citadel security. On the other hand.. He thought it over some more before he slowly nodded.

"Three out of four. The vote have passed in favor of a counter attack, Matriarch Lidanya; destroy the creatures by all means necessary!" The Turian almost shouted, pointing a finger at Shepard within the next moment as the commander tried to protest.. "Enough, Shepard! We agreed to meet with you so that you could explain you're actions, but this I will not tolerate at all!"

Lidanya hesitated for a moment at the thought of firing at the Citadel itself, but eventually gave a curt nod.. "Yes, sir."

* * *

Matriarch Lidanya turned towards the rest of the crew within the bridge of the Destiny Ascension.. she gestured to the one in charge of communications. "Link up with the three closest Alliance cruisers to our location. We will together triangulate the coordinates of our targets for precision strike. Weapon controls, prepare all lower Guardian Lasers."

A chorus of affirmatives echoed through the ships bridge. "Bring us closer to Zakera." Lidanya added in, and the ship at the urging of it's crews superiors altered it's course towards the designated arm of the Citadel.

The officer in charge of communications turned towards the Matriarch.. "Ma'am, the Alliance cruisers are responding, they are forming up around us and have begun assisting us in target acquisition."

"Good. Once all is ready, open a general channel to surrounding ships, fire at my command only."

"Target acquired. Location will be transmitted across the strike force." another tech shouted.

"Open channel. All ships, open fire with Guardian Lasers only. We have to prevent further damage to the Citadel. Precision strike, commence firing!" though off-handed, even if they stopped the monsters now.. the Citadel would be damaged further by the bombardment. She gave the order only with the most extreme of reluctance. Deciding that it's for the best.

The two Chakra beasts were only vaguely aware of what was going on between them and the immediate hurriedly abandoned area, the surrounding superstructure damaged. They provided a sort of destructive force the Citadel's makers hardly could have accounted for. Guns and up from heavy to even vehicular weaponry were well within the Citadel's ability to stand solidly against.

But nothing like that were comparable to that which are currently tearing up the place.

As soon as the general message blasted through all channels and frequencies, the people on the Zakera ward fled away from the targeted section of the wards in which the entities fought each other. No one wanting to be nearby when the ships above open fire.

Red lights appeared across the Alliance cruisers above, alongside the Destiny Ascension, and in a heartbeat all weapons glowed ruby red and numerous lances of laser fire were launched, smashing into the Tailed Beasts general vicinity. For an instant, the techs on board the Ascension called that the strange energy signatures were fluctuating under the barrage. On the next order, the ships kept pounding the target area for several seconds until the energy signatures on the surface seemingly ceased.

The crew on board the ships gazed at the surface of the target area once the bombardment was finished.. they had blown open a hole through several dozens of levels into the superstructure below, forming a large blackened crater. And for a minute, the Citadel turned eerily silent.

"Send a message to C-Sec, send in a recon squad to confirm whether or not the targets have been destroyed!" Lidanya called out.

* * *

"What a tragedy... those were among the youngest remaining Kalinin. Though the Citadel is safe now, there's no way to avoid worrying about their already endangered existence." Shepard whispered gravely as he stared at the screen displaying what was essentially a crater in the wards visible from the other arms. The barrage had blown open a rugged gaping wound in the Zakera wards.

The Turian Councilor viewed things differently.. "They have proven nothing but trouble, and should be extinguished for the safety of Citadel space." he told the Commander without a shred of regret in his decision, the other councilors seemed more remorseful, but whatever were on their mind stayed in thought.

The link with Konan still remained open, and she maintained a very calm facial expression. "How can you look so calm, Konan..?" Tali whispered remorsefully... "You just lost them."

"No." Konan replied, raising an eyebrow. "It isn't over yet."

* * *

A crew of four officers cleared away rubble as they moved towards the crater. Most systems in this part of the station had been knocked out, so little choice remained but to force open what doors they could on the way. They had been chosen when there were no volunteers to check out the target area after the attack, many died going anywhere close to the demons. It could be called an understatement to merely describe them as nervous, but regardless, they kept moving forward.

"Picking up anything?" The Salarian of the group asked loudly as they approached the gap.

One of the others, a Human shook his head.. "No, I can't see anything. Everything is hot here. Using a sensor is pointless."

"Filter out heat sources then, try to search for the anomalous signatures."

"There's nothing... but, what's that?" he pointed at a small oasis in this ocean of destruction. Suspended by a few metal beams above the large hole that otherwise filled the view. A body surrounded by ethereal fog could be seen lying there.

They quickly covered the distance to investigated the body, a young girl from the looks of it. To their surprise, she's still alive, as the low breathing attested to. It sharpened and she woke up with a startled groan.. surprising the officers with her pale eyes as they seemed to pierce the aliens very souls.. "N-no. Run b-before.." she managed to speak through gritted teeth.

"Run? From what?" the one closest to her asked, wanting to help her.. but the strange aura around her kept him away. The man whom tried to help her seemed very confused at the obstacle until a gasp from his comrades pulled his attention to the crater.. "Oh crap."

Fifty feet away, a creature leaped from the depths below, ripping a further section of the floor away and letting it crash into the blackness further below. It climbed up one more level and stood on the same ground as they were.. but it's attention weren't anywhere close to them, but at the ships above, and the beast looked well beyond pissed off.

All of them hesitated, before the Salarian keyed his communicator, unknowingly broadcasting his message by mistake.. "Destiny Ascension, this is Recon 53... target remains, I repeat, target remains!"

"Fall back, now!" the lone Human of the group shouted, the rest eager to do so as they fled. Leaving the wounded Hinata behind as she rolled over onto her side and tried to recover from the injuries with the help of her healing techniques.

In the meantime, the Kyubi amassed energy.

* * *

Up in the flag ship of the Citadel fleet, Matriarch Lidanya stood nervously, trying to stay composed and prevent herself from pacing all around the CIC as she awaited the report of the C-Sec recon team. That was when the message punched into the bridge and Lidanya's blood ran cold.

"Detecting a massive energy buildup!" a nearby tech yelled a warning. "The power of the signature have greatly amplified!"

It took the Asari Matriarch exactly three seconds to think of at least a couple reasons for the buildup. And all those hypothetical reasons all had one response in common; "Evasive maneuver!"

Back in the Citadel Tower and the barricades further down the Zakera wards, The Kalinin, Citadel Council and Shepard's group stared as the massive Dreadnought burst into movement... none knew what was happening but Hinata, whom watched as the Kyubi finished accumulating energy and unleashed it as a massive Chakra blast. Witnesses across the station saw it as a spear of light that arose from the surface of Zakera, approaching the Destiny Ascension rapidly.

Those in the the lower decks of the Ascension did not have a prayer as the kinetic shields of the Dreadnought could not block the attack, being only capable of stopping solid projectiles. Like a knife through butter, the blast connected with the lower sections of the ship, many crew members were vaporized as the spear of Chakra tore through the section and detonated into a massive fireball almost upon exiting the craft. The inner space filled with secondary explosions.. fire spreading through the surrounding sections.

Lidanya resolutely saved her ship by lowering the mass effect fields in the lower parts of the ship and initiated a violent atmospheric decompression to extinguish the fire. Next she ordered the engines to maximum, to get out of sight of Zakera's surface.

Shepard never thought that Tailed beast was capable of doing that. All he and the rest had been told were the general history surrounding them... but never any specifics into just what they were capable of. Only two good things remained in the current situation.. One of them being that the Ascension would be able to fight another day despite the damage.

But somehow, he felt as if that whole disaster was worth it just to see that Turian Councilor's face. Almost. He simply stood there, utterly flabbergasted.

"I apologize, Councilor. But that thing is still alive!" Lidanya chimed in as the image stabilized.. it had been nearly nothing but static since the Dreadnought was hit.

"We can see that, Matriarch Lidanya..." The Salarian councilor stated simply, seeing as his colleague at the present time seemed incapable of speaking. "Question is, what further action should we take... Commander Shepard?"

Shepard had nothing to offer in this regard, all this Tailed beast news are completely new to him. Instead, Mordin stepped forward, as he turned towards the screen section with Konan still staring back at them. "What is most viable countermeasure?"

"I don't know about Hinata, but Kisame is our best option... or more specifically his sword Samehada."

"Take the sword then?" Mordin asked, he could hide it all he could.. but the Samehada intrigued him.

"It have a will of it's own and refuses to be wielded by anyone but Kisame."

"It can resist?"

"Skewers you're hands if you try to take it."

"Transportation is the difficulty, not the use?"

"Essentially." Konan shrugged. "What are you getting at?"

"Biotics viable for transport." Mordin offered his answer to that problem as he looked over to Shepard out of the corner of his eyes.

"Lidanya, is there any viable biotics at their location?" Shepard asked the Matriarch, getting the gist of what was suggested.

"There is one; Viviana." Lidanya quickly responded as she hurriedly got her assistant to list a roster of personnel rated still to be alive in that section of the wards. The moment that she told the name of the officer, Konan's display turned black. The timing impeccable.

"I hope they get there in time." Tali chimed in hopefully.

* * *

"Tenten, find this so-called Viviana." Konan quickly instructed the young-nin.

The girl nodded accordingly.. "Yes, ma'am." and went right on that, running to the crowd of officers that all continued to stare nervously in the general direction of the disaster area.

"Kisame, we will have to borrow your sword." the woman said as she approached the ambulance in which Kisame had been loaded onto while she conversed with those currently in the great tower.

The missing-nin croaked a protest for a moment but calmed down quickly.. "How do you plan to actually bring it along?"

"We'll have to improvise and use biotics. As for wielding it in combat... Hidan?" Konan looked to the other whom appeared tired from having spent time shouting at random officers.

Kisame did not look all that comfortable with the situation.. "And you plan to use it how?"

"Same as everything else, Hidan will have to force his Chakra on it."

"Sounds too damn wrong, but then again, we don't have much choice, do we?"

"No."

"Here she is!" Tenten called out in as she came back, followed by an purple skinned Asari. Quite a young one by Asari standards, being in her Maiden stage.

"You have need of me?" Viviana asked directly, though not without a shudder that revealed her inside fear.

Konan nodded and gestured to the giant bandaged sword as it lay on the floor next to Kisame. "Use your biotics to take and keep it suspended in the air. Don't touch it."

"And I expect it back, alien." Kisame spat coarsely. "Goes double for you Hidan. Hurt it and I'll rip you to shreds!"

Hidan merely scoffed.. "Yeah, yeah." he responded in a lame manner, shrugging off the thread.

"Tenten, you'll have to stay here. Garrus..." she turned towards the Turian whom stood nearby conversing with a few passing officers until she got his attention.

"Yes?"

"We will need your help as well. Time's of the essence. Get us a vehicle quickly."

"Sure you can handle it?" Hidan asked as Viviana began to impose her biotic abilities upon the Samehada, for a moment merely budging it, and then got it to levitate.

"I believe so... fascinating weapon, is it alive?" the Asari responded with a grin as she finally managed to keep the blade hovering at least a few feet off the ground.

"If your done talking, we should get going!" Garrus hollered as he had just taken an C-Sec marked air car and drove it quickly to the others within a few seconds notice.

"Good. Get in you guys!" Konan seconded as she took the second front seat. Viviana and Hidan took the back seats, with the Samehada hovering uncomfortably close between them. But the blade seemed completely unaffected, if not for the occasional occurrence where the weapon vibrated enough to produce a distinct sound and extended a few of it's spikes at Hidan a few times.

"How cute, even Kisame's annoyance towards me have rubbed off on it." Hidan groaned after yet another spike tried to impale him. "Behave, you blasted sword! We'll get along just fine! Yeow!"

"It, truly hates you.." Viviana commented with a measure of disbelief.

Hidan pulled the spike out of his hip.. if he had not flexed his leg in time, that pointy thing would have pierced him in a certain spot. "Yeah, ain't it fucking adorable?"

* * *

Hinata continued lying there on the broken floor at the very edge of the crater.. attempting to move several times, but the pain from her injuries caused her to repeatedly slip in and out of consciousness. Healing the damage took more time and effort than she thought it would.

Whenever she fainted, a sentence kept repeating itself like a mantra; "Don't give up, never give up!"

The same dream of the battlefield in which she almost died came to her. The medic-nin above her trying to help her while the explosions went on around them, but this time accompanied by the shouting of several Shinobi whom valiantly attempted a stubborn, but faltering resistance. The girl tilted her head in her dream to look around, seeing ghostly images in the distance, only those closest were completely clear.

One boy looked in her direction in agony before growling at the enemy as he and his dog attacked the Geth in full force, she recognized them as Kiba... and Akamaru. The last time she saw them. "No, wait!" Hinata screamed in her mind.

"We're losing her, help me someone!" the medic-nin shouted at those around them. Receiving a response from what sounded like an elderly woman nearby whom at the time was signaling a retreat.

"Take her and come! Make haste, there are yet one way to save her!"

Hinata's body ached all over, convulsing from the many injuries. She did not even try fighting what seemed to be a certain fate until a hand landed on her shoulder.. the clear voice piercing the harsh reality surrounding them and gave her the strength to fight.. "Don't give up, never give up!" ... it was.

Hinata opened her eyes and forced herself to get up, her limbs hurt like hell, but she got up anyway. She begged the Sanbi for more Chakra, which she received. A formation of Chakra resembling roots enveloped her body and supported her. "Stage one!" the Chakra covered her whole body, forming the more basic demon cloak, transparent yet slightly clouded with mist. "Byakugan!" her Kekkei Genkai activated, giving her a perfect view over the area. But she did not need to look for the Kyubi.

The other was still in the process of admiring the damage it caused to the two ships above when it noticed a Chakra buildup from behind, and turned slowly to acknowledge the other hosts persistent presence. "Go back to your cage!" it could hear her growl.

"Back into you're prison and don't come back out!" Hinata raised her voice, receiving a snort from the Nine-tails. "Let Naruto go, NOW!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, the energy invested in this outburst partially turned into a sonic blast that exploded outwards, blowing away everything that weren't nailed down bar the Kyubi which was only vaguely surprised. The blast traveled beyond that space, knocking people off their feet even several streets away. None got injured from the sudden sonic attack.. but it gave people an additional reason not to venture close.

In one smooth movement she settled herself into the fighting stance of her clan. The reasoning being that in a direct confrontation of brute force, she could not hope to match the Nine-tails. But with the Chakra of the Sanbi backing her up, Gentle fist could potentially be much more useful for this fight.

The Kyubi growled a threat and launched itself at Hinata.. the girl responding by tapping a two-fingered blow to the beasts shoulder with sufficient force to make visible a red-hot needle of chakra blast out of the body on the other side of the impact, causing the beast to howl and stagger for a moment as it's anger continued to grow.

"Come!" Hinata challenged the Nine-tails, beckoning for the beast to attack her. The other being quick to accept as it charged at her again, starting the second round of their fight.


	13. Chapter 13

A row of misplaced broken benches shattered as a blood red arm smashed into it. Hinata struck the arm to prevent it from connecting with her head, turning it's course for the inanimate objects behind, held it down and shoved her free hand up the Kyubi's jaw, not injecting chakra as much as she shot Chakra needles through the opponents head, causing the beast to howl in pain.

Hinata knew one thing, Naruto would have a big headache by the time he wakes up. The Nine-tails stumbled backwards as it tried to build some distance from the piercing fingers of the Hyuga, only for the girl to close the gap – much to its immense irritation – and grabbed hold of its left arm... pulled the beast closer, ducked a blow and planted a empty palm thrust against the chest.

The beast howled again, throwing the girl off with a series of erratic movements. It attempted to deliver another full force blow..

The throw sent her crashing into an opposing wall, a blow she quickly recovered from, inwardly thanking the Sanbi's power for mitigating most of the damage. She swept away some blood from the edge of her mouth and took a deep breath before resuming her attack. "T-that's it, keep in control, be smart. The opponents nothing but a ball of malevolence, don't play by its rules." she whispered softly to herself like a mantra, understanding that her former battle with the Kyubi was a mistake since she only partially control her actions. In a battle of raw strength alone, the Nine-tails' victory would be inevitable.

The Kyubi was having none of it, to be treated like this by such a whelp. Gathering a massive amount of energy before its jaws. And with it, the girl noticed the ships above taking evasive action. Considering what the Chakra blast from before did, they probably detected the buildup and acted accordingly. But this one was directly intended for her alone, and she would have none of it either. The girl broke into a dash, dropped lower than the beasts current line of sight and delivered a soft equivalent to an uppercut, resulting in the blast going haywire and shot into the space above, missing it's intended target by a huge margin.

For several seconds, the 'Bijudama' traveled aimlessly, only by sheer fluke did it strike a target, a lone freighter, and in direct contrast to what the former did to the Ascension, this time the blast detonated on impact.

The resulting explosion gave the Citadel a sun for a fleeting moment as it illuminated the inner surfaces of the station.

Hinata lashed out as if to avenge those innocents on the freighter as she rapidly pummeled the beasts chest, which seemed harmless if seen from a distance due to how gentle the strikes were.. but the demon reeled from the blows, the Chakra injections from the tip of the girl's fingers penetrating the shroud surrounding its host with the Sanbi's help, aiming them primarily at the various Chakra nodes she could reach, attempting to weaken the beast enough for Naruto to wake up and suppress it.

It knew the trouble it's in, and eventually managed to leap away to try to power up for another blast, only to deplete the cloak down to one tail in the process before it stopped and growled in it's irritation over its new found weakness and the sheer persistence of it's opponent.

Before long, a flying vehicle appeared from above, lazily banking as it circled the heavily damaged arena where the combatants fought.

"Get ready, Hidan! We are right on top of them!" Garrus cried out, banking the vehicle more sharply.. passing directly above the demon, which reacted to it's presence accordingly. With a measure of conservation, it blasted a tiny orb of Chakra after it before Hinata could stop the beast.

Though a far cry from the last few projectiles, it graced the vehicle with it's presence and pierced straight through it, frying the engines. "Oh shit! We're going down, prepare to bail!" Garrus shouted at the others as he fought for control which did not even exist anymore.. though a few functions remained. The Turian slammed his fist into a nearby button and almost explosively ejected the doors away. "Jump!"

The occupants did not have to be asked twice as they all leaped out before the vehicle smashed itself into the opposing side of a building not far away.

Garrus landed in the way one could expect, he tumbled over as he slid across the ground before he at last managed to stop. Konan landed gracefully, a swarm of paper having shaped together into grandiose wings for her.

Viviana slightly less fortunate as she slammed into the broken wall of a shop, and broke her left leg.

Hidan happened to be the most unfortunate, falling thirty feet before a crashing into a wreck further down.. bellowing a frustrated after the fact; "Oh, not again!" The Samehada landing right next to him at knee level. Briskly flaunting it's sharp spines at him.. "Don't you even-"

"Hidan, get up or are you going to lounge around all day?" Konan shouted after him.. "Go!"

The man shuddered and grasped the Samehada by the handle and got up, despite the pain resulting from the sword attempting to pry him off of it with spines piercing into Hidan's hand. "Bossy lady, multiple free falls and a pissed off blade. Why is this day so jolly?" he muttered to no one in particular, brandished the blade and forced his Chakra onto the sword. The blade's stubborn as usual, but not so much that it refused to be fed. "Come on!" he leaped forward and kept going, clearing the distance through the veritable canyon of debris. Steadily approaching Hinata's position.

By then, the battle between the Jinchuriki had become evenly matched in terms of power. The Kyubi now noticeably struggling to maintain it's hold on the world around it, howling in rage as the reality of defeat slowly dawned on it. Hinata struck its chest, and the Kyubi punched right back, slamming her into the closest wall. The demon attempted to deliver the killing blow, only for Hinata to recover from the blow, dodge and elbowed the creature's neck, forcing it back once again.

She built some speed, and kicked it's leg. The Fox's solitary tail wrapping around Hinata's waist and made her fall to the ground with it. But Hinata refused to lose focus and struck the side of it's head.. a clawed strike sent her rolling across the ravaged floor.. a sonic blast in return sent the creature flying.

The duel continued with such blinding speed back and forth. Only the experienced people nearby saw the patterns in their battle, while Hidan, who got closer by the second paused as to find an opening in which to join the fray.

Hinata became aware of his presence and figured a way to end the fight.

The girl leaned back, encouraging the beast to lunge forward, only for Hinata to sidestep and quickly maneuvered behind it, put her arms under that of the opponent, locked it into place and joined her hands behind the Kyubi's neck, causing a massive friction from their demon cloaks brushing violently against one another; "Hidan, now!"

"Is that a-" Garrus began.

"A full nelson?" Viviana finished the question for him in amazement.

"Coming right up!" Hidan howled as he hurled himself into the field, swinging the Samehada in a huge arc, culminating when the blade made contact with the Kyubi's cloak and tore a huge amount of Chakra both from it and Hinata in one go. "Take this!"

And in less than a moment, the Kyubi's visage vanished, allowing Naruto to emerge.. Exhausted, he collapsed to the shattered ground the moment Hidan withdrew the blade. Hinata, longer with the cloak to support her wounded body, soon collapsed as well – nearly falling on top of the boy.

Hinata in her weakened state looked at Naruto, seeing a weak smile directed at her. She managed a smile in return before the world went dark... accompanied by a voice that briefly broke the veil.. "Thank you."

* * *

By the time Naruto woke up again.. he found himself in what looked like a hospital judging by the machines that surrounded his bed and the pristine white walls. He craned his neck to the side, and felt relief upon seeing Hinata.. who still slept.

"Awake are we?" the voice of Konan spoke up as she soon entered the room, looking Naruto over.

"Yeah..." the boy replied.. "How long was I out?"

"A few days. We brought you here, but it wasn't an easy thing to do... C-Sec are following our every move nowadays." the woman sighed... "They don't trust us. Frightened, worried, concerned."

"Got it." Naruto muttered.

"The chance of us getting any help from the Council, has gone down the drain. The only reason they haven't put us in prison.. or worse, is because of Shepard."

"Where are the rest?"

"Tenten's sleeping next door. Kisame is going through another surgery... he got shot, more than a dozen bullets in there. Nagato and Hidan are keeping watch and Onoki... well, he's looking over the other survivors he and Nagato came across."

"S-survivors?" Hinata gasped weakly as she woke up... barely overhearing what Konan said.. Naruto sat up, similarly surprised. The woman offered a rare warm smile as she brushed a palm across Hinata's forehead. "You may go see them if you wish."

"Survivors?" Naruto repeated.

"Apparently, someone came to our world after we left and..." the woman gazed up at the ceiling.. "This is only theory, but they have taken corpses from our home world and have revived them through the use of advanced technology. Using some sort of implants to turn them into slaves under someone's control." Konan sighed.. "Shepard believes that the ones behind it might be the extremist organization known as Cerberus."

Naruto fought away the blanked, shoved away the closest machines and downright leaped out form the bed. "What about those implants?"

"The surgeons removed them... the minds of our past comrades are once again their own."

"Then what are we waiting for? Show us, please!"

Konan helped Hinata out of bed, supporting the girl a little Naruto took over shortly. "Then let's go. I'll get Tenten to join us."

"Okay." Came the chorus of the teens voices as they left the room, Konan taking a sharp left to the next room. It took a minute before Tenten came out.

"Hey, you guys feeling alright?" Tenten called out to them.

"Y-yeah, could of been better. Hehe." Naruto replied with a wry smile, making sure not to release Hinata as she offered a soft giggle in turn.

"T-that's my line, Naruto."

"Konan said we're going to see them survivors.. any idea who they might be?" Tenten asked to the confusion of the two others.

"How could we? We only just woke up!" Naruto shrugged.

"Come on, follow me now... kids." Konan softly told them promptly when they showed signs of slowing down.

* * *

"Where am I?" came the startled response as something alien suddenly loomed over his face. He tried to reach for a kunai... but he could not find any weapons within reach. "W-what the.. get away from me, you!" he almost yelled at the alien doctor, who quickly stepped back as the boy tried to fight his way out of bed.

"Easy there, kiddo." an sagely voice gruffly addressed him.

He looked over towards the source of the voice. Mentally scratched his brain as he tried to remember the person he now looked upon before it all came to him. The Third Tsuchikage. A man shrunken by old age, his wrinkled face completely melancholic as he stared at the hospital bed in which Kurotsuchi continued to sleep. Waiting for his granddaughter to wake up.

The boy did not relax much from just that, but at least he stopped thrashing about. He looked at the room around him.. noticing the the Fifth Mizukage sleeping in the bed on the other side of his own. The doctor did not move any closer, instead going over to the still sleeping woman. "This is too troublesome, Tsuchikage. What is this... where are we?"

"Safe." was all Onoki whispered in response, leaving him deeply unsatisfied. "That must be them..." the old man continued as the door opened.. the additional light shining in casting shadows over those who just arrived.

Three of them approached as if not being able to believe their own eyes.

"S-Shikamaru?" he heard a familiar voice.

He looked up at the door in a startled manner.. "Naruto...? Hinata? Tenten?" the boy asked, his eyes completely wide open.. his permanent frown thrown away in the favor of a blank stare, and then tears as they closed in around him and embraced him from all sides. As if to confirm whether or not they were truly there.. everyone in the same place.

"We never thought we'd see you again, Shikamaru!" Naruto sobbed.

A cough.. "Y-yeah. I don't remember much at all. The last thing I remembered.. I was somewhere close to Konoha with my team.. Choji got himself injured, convinced me to run as he took a red food pill. Carried vital intelligence, but..." he trailed off.

Those around him paused as they thought back to the old days, the ridiculous food bills that Choji often saddled his friends with. A good friend with a big heart greater than his bulk.

"But you got a second chance at life... even if those who did it had less than good intentions." Tenten said... "You think they might resurrect more of our friends?"

"Maybe." Hinata said, looking down at the floor. "Maybe..."

The teens sat in complete silence. Konan almost set to walk up to and provide some comfort when a harsh voice spoke up behind her.

"Ah, sentimental bull." A Krogan's scratching voice came from the hallway.. Grunt arrived and peered over Konan's shoulder as she beheld the reunion.

"Be quiet, Grunt. He died just a couple of months ago.. and now... he's alive again." the woman replied, soft and annoyed both at once.

"They were close friends?" Shepard asked, having come along with Grunt and Jacob.

"Of course, they were from the same village. And they were all in the same class.. except Tenten whom graduated a year earlier." Konan seemed a little quiet for a bit before she continued.. "They, and the rest of their comrades.. from Tenten's team and the rest of the graduates from Naruto's class quickly became known as the Rookie Twelve due to their skills shown during their first Chunin exam." she continued.. having studied the background of several of her allies over their time spent during the war. "Close friends."

"I see." Shepard thoughtfully replied as he looked upon the scene as the reunited friends began to talk, their voices shaking still. "After seeing what those things did... It's hard to imagine that they're so... peaceful."

"Our world, was a heavily militarized one." Konan replied.. "But despite the violence, the conflicts, the wars, and the hatred. And the shadows of death hanging over us. The bonds between friends are strong. We cherish the moments we spend together." Konan briefly thought back to the times when she, Yahiko and Nagato stood together in the middle of the third Shinobi world war.

"As I said, it is hard to imagine. Even harder, even after all this time that you raise your young to fight." Shepard said, unintentionally half-accusingly.

"Only in the Hidden villages, Shepard. But the young are proud to become Shinobi. And their parents, their teachers.. and the leaders, are no less proud of them." Konan whispered, wiping her eyes with the back of her left hand.. her thoughts wandered to that of Jirayia.

Shepard had no comments to that.. his family traditionally enters the military, but he did not join it before the appropriate time. It was hard for him to understand the ways of these aliens.. It sounded so... Spartan. "I hope there won't be much more hardship in store for you, the Council wasn't exactly happy about what happened. Zakera is so heavily damaged in places that the crews hardly know where to begin.. even the Keepers are having a hard time."

"I understand they wish to see our leaders soon?"

"Yes, the meeting has been delayed for several reasons. Though it's just a matter of time before they'll make the call. Maybe little more than an hour or less."

"How do you know?"

"Councilor Anderson sent me the message a few minutes ago. A warning upfront."

Konan gave a nod before seeing an official looking man wander towards them, or Shepard in particular, whom did not seem particularly overjoyed at his presence.

"Udina.. what is it this time, playing courier?"

"Be quiet, Shepard. Round up those damned Kalinin and move to the Council chambers, immediately. So we can get it all over with." Udina gruffly said, his tirade road-killed by a glare from Onoki as he joined them, not pleased at having his reverie interrupted.

"Let's get Nagato and..." a voice groaned from inside the room which belonged to neither Shikamaru nor Kurotsuchi.

"Ayaa... is it pretty boys I spy with my little eye?" the voice of Terumi spoke dreamily, the very first words she spoke after waking up and found Naruto and Shikamaru nearby.. the girls next to them taking up what could be seen as nothing less than defensive positions.

"Oh, here we go..." Onoki grunted.

* * *

"I say you are out of your damned mind, Onoki." Udina nearly spat at the elderly man over the sheer annoyance that Mei was brought along. She stood there, completely perplexed as she read from a PDA with help from Nagato, going through a rather quick briefing. She had also been handed a translator, for convenience.

"That is rather sudden I've got to say. Waking up far away in deep space, about to talk to some alien creatures I've never met before." the Mizukage told the others. She had been hurriedly outfitted with a more fitting suit than the Hospital patient attire. They got her some clothes. The blue richly patterned kimono standing out the most. Konan and the girls helped her restore her rather messy ankle length auburn hair, complete with the herringbone pattern at the back and the top-knot. They had also managed to acquire some high-heeled sandals.

All of which was hard to come by.. lucky to find a exotic store with just what they needed.

"Not that you haven't met them before... you tried to kill them while under the control of that... chip." Nagato quipped.

The woman sighed as the elevator stopped and opened to reveal the chambers beyond. "Nice, don't tell me I used them as target practice too."

"Actually, you did..." Onoki responded.

"Now don't you start throwing insults before the council. They would have thrown you away days ago if it wasn't for C-Sec's mistake. The station could have remained whole and the peoples whom lost their lives would still be alive." Udina responded, but did not get to finish before the three already went ahead.

"Does this not look familiar?" Mei asked.

"This is where we fought." Nagato answered, bit surprised to see the sheer size of the crowd, much more than just repair crew, not to mention the many Keepers still working to repair the station. And more than just a few floating cameras. All which focused on the Shinobi.

"I have a feeling... that this is no ordinary meeting." the Tsuchikage muttered. The amount of chatter he heard coming from the amphitheater certainly told as much.

And he was quickly proven right. For in the great chamber sat a multitude of diplomats and ambassadors from every species of Citadel space. What faces could be told from.. many appeared to be greatly annoyed, while a few seemed more curious. But none looked more tense than the Councilor's whom sat in the far side of the crowded expanse.

"Onto the petitioner's stage." Udina told them before he left.. going down to the seat reserved for the Human embassy.

With a shrug, Onoki led them onto the stage. And the chatter in the chamber increased in volume with every step until a harsh voice echoed through the open space. "We will have order! The meeting will begin now." the Turian councilor uttered with no less anger than he usually sported.

The sheer number of people participating in this meeting sent its message quite clearly - that the Council wished to intimidate them. But none of them budged, though Mei did gaze at the onlookers, more than a little surprised.

"She does not belong in this chamber, have her removed immediately." The councilor spoke again, gesturing at the Mizukage.

"The control chip previously implanted into her brain has been removed. She's now perfectly in control of her own thoughts and actions. She is also equal in rank to Onoki. Remove her and we'll leave as well." Nagato called out without flinching.

The Turian frowned, as much as he would of liked dismissing all of them. The meeting would have been for nothing then. So to the surprise of many, he withdrew his demand, albeit with some reluctance.

"This meeting have been called together to address several issues that have become apparent over these last few days." the Asari councilor began in an official manner. "Your species; The Kalinin, experienced an extinction level event recently?"

"I always wondered of the name given to us by the galaxy. But yes, the Geth attacked and overran our world within a few months of their invasion and killed nearly all life on the planet. Only a few managed to escape, courtesy of Shepard and his crew."

"Your home planet was designated as Kalin 3 by a group of astronomers, relative to it's position from the sun. From that, Shepard and by extension the rest of the galaxy came to refer to your species collectively as The Kalinin." Udina spoke up from his seat as to get that particular question away and done with to make it clear.. getting a rare nod from the Turian councilor in the process.

"And you came to us searching for help, is that correct?" The Asari continued.

Nagato nodded.. "Yes, Shepard recommended we do that."

"You do realize, providing you with aid is difficult when you carry weapons of mass destruction to our doorstep?"

Hard question.. "We did not have much choice in the matter. We could not leave them on our world. Which is by all indication has been the right decision. Cerberus are possibly in the process of plundering what is left of home."

"We would like to make an offer which you should consider, considering the circumstances we're in."

"That depends, ma'am." Mai responded.. the other two steeled themselves.

"It is for the best of all of Citadel space." the Councilor continued.. "As of effective immediately, we request that you surrender those weapons to the Citadel."

A stunned silence followed, only broken as Onoki stepped forward.. "I apologize, but we cannot do that." Producing another moment of total silence, punctured soon by mumbling across the chamber.

"You refuse? Surely you must realize that you can't possibly wield them? This council is for maintaining peace and order across Citadel space."

"You possess neither of the means to control, not even having a way to keep them locked up. The beasts can only be kept down by Shinobi." Onoki countered.. "Don't forget, you needed us to restrain the Kyubi. Your measures proved useless and only made things worse, the fleet of yours are a pale shadow compared to that of the Geth." Onoki noted and earned some hard glaring from both Nagato and Mei.

"Behave yourself, old man." Nagato whispered.

A wince went across the councilors, except Anderson whom glanced at his colleagues with something akin to amusement. "That, I believe was a real low blow, Onoki." the Human Councilor commented with the hint of a smile.

The Turian councilor was the first to find his voice after the slight. "If our argument won't sway your minds. Then we instead offer a verdict."

"What do you mean...?" Mei asked, somewhat disturbed about the tone they were getting.

He continued.. "By the fact that you possess such capable weapons that can so easily be concealed. One of them killed so many, damaged the Citadel which has stood for fifty thousand years, and nearly destroyed the Destiny Ascension. Because of that, and the confirmed destruction that took place at Illium, this Council have come to a decision."

A pause.

"You will have seven days to hand over those weapons of yours. If you still refuse to comply, then this Council will have no choice but to label you Kalinin as an enemy of Citadel space and have you summarily destroyed."


	14. Chapter 14

"This has to be a joke, what's going to happen to them now?" Shepard asked in outrage as he followed Anderson into his office.

Never before had he seen Anderson this angry.. "I'm just as surprised as you. Information was withheld from me in this. They see my connection to you as a problem.. an obstruction to prevent me from seeing things as it is."

"You tried talking to them about it?"

"Yes, I did once the meeting was over. I told them I would never condone such an action. But they overruled me by majority." Anderson put down his PDA onto the table with such force that it resounded through the office. "I'm sorry, Shepard. I'll do what I can. If not..."

"Then I'll have to get them off the station before time runs out." Shepard responded.

Anderson forced himself to calm down and turned towards Shepard.. "That may not be possible at this time. As we speak, the Council have had most of the civilian population of Zakera wards evacuated and instituted lock-down, instead filling the gap with security forces. They have also called in military reinforcements."

"I can't believe this. Why in the world did they make such a demand to the Kalinin? They got a brilliant point, the Citadel fleet brought to bear a full bombardment on the Kyubi and Sanbi, and it proved to have very little effect. We aren't talking about some plain animals that can be kept down with a leash."

"I believe they are frightened. The galaxy have been unchanging for too long... now the Kalinin have popped up and boasting capabilities unlike anything we have ever seen before. They want to take those weapons for themselves by any and all means necessary." Anderson described gravely.. "They fear what could happen if the Kalinin walks free. And that damned Turian colleague of mine especially, that bastard is terrified out of his wits and have gone every inch of the way into convincing the others that the Kalinin must be done away with and their weapons claimed."

The councilor let out a sigh while Shepard simply stared at him. Anderson shook his head before continuing.

"See it this way; What if the Kalinin became a member race of the Citadel? Them recovering, growing in numbers, becoming an interstellar race. With their militarized culture and mystical powers far beyond the regular scope. He fears that the Kalinin could one day reduce the Turian Hierarchy into a subordinate state while they rise to be the primary force to protect Citadel space."

"That can't possibly be the reason. Could he really had gone and taken an assumption so damned far?"

"Who knows, but I believe he is liable to do just about anything right now. I'm considering worst case scenario."

"That would truly give us a reason to get the Kalinin off the station. We could use the Normandy?"

"No, C-sec is keeping a solid eye on that ship. No one will be able to get on board without the Citadel fleet becoming aware."

"What will we do then?"

"Consider all options. Go to them, explain the situation. Maybe they can figure out something. I will try to see what I can do about it. I'll be calling Admiral Hackett shortly, trying to shore up some support."

"Alright. I'll go meet with them then. They are still at the hospital as I recall."

"Good luck, Shepard."

* * *

Shepard stepped off the air cab and watched it take off to leave, Tali tagged along this time. There were guards all over the place from the looks of it. C-Sec mostly, but they weren't there to guard the Kalinin, but to make sure they don't go anywhere unnoticed.

He showed his identification and entered, taking the closest elevator two stories up and journeyed towards the room where he had last seen them. An argument could be heard coming from that direction.

Shepard knocked on the door and entered promptly without even waiting for an answer, becoming the center of attention as every Kalinin in the room were directing their attention towards him... all but the girl Kurotsuchi who still remained unconscious.

"Is it true? That the council wants to take us down?" Tenten were the first one to spoke up. "Weren't they supposed to be benevolent?"

"Calm down. Anderson is on our side. He believes that the decision was made in fear." Shepard spoke reassuringly. "He will try to talk it over with them, to try and convince that you aren't a threat to Citadel space."

"Any chances of him being successful?" Nagato asked, standing up from his chair slowly.

"Don't know, but it is perhaps time to consider finding a way to escape the station if everything else fails." Shepard informed them.. "They will be putting Zakera on lock-down, so it will be hard to get out."

"Does that mean they are already gearing themselves for a fight?" Konan asked quickly, obviously concerned.

"Just in case you decide not to surrender your weapons for sure." Tali told them gently. "I do have an idea however on how we can get you out of here."

"You do?" Tenten asked, annoyed by the situation just like the rest of them.

Tali paused before she outlined the idea.. "There are options we can possibly consider. C-Sec have numerous docks assigned to them in the HQ of every ward. The gist of the plan's to try and capture one of their freighters and use it to smuggle you guys off the Citadel."

"There's a lot of risk involved in such a plan. We need to get out of Zakera first. And remain unnoticed lest the fleet shoots us down." Nagato responded, though he did seem intrigued.

Shepard was quick to bring up one flaw in the plan.. "But none of them can pilot even an air cab."

Tali frowned... the Commander had a point.

"Why not teach one of us to pilot the thing then?" Shikamaru asked.

Many in the room perked up as all their eyes turned to the Nara.

"If nothing else, I could give it a try. But it'd be for naught if..."

"It'd become a real crash course for sure." Tali responded softly as she stood in contemplation. "I could provide simulations. Maybe Joker's willing to lend a hand."

"He will." Shepard nodded. "But how will you get past the checkpoints, that's the only remaining hole in the plan."

"A significant enough diversion could solve that problem. That coupled with the use of henge's could give us all the openings we need." Konan replied with a measure of certainty. "And I got the distraction in mind." she folded a palm open, and in it lay a rectangular piece of paper with strange symbols painted on it. "Explosive tags. If we use enough of them, we could give them something to think about."

"I would prefer if you avoid as many deaths as possible during your escape. It will be even harder to convince the Council if you massacre those sent to suppress you."

"Of course. Tenten, I'm going to need your help." Konan said in a placid manner as she headed out of the room, closely followed by the younger girl."

"Shikamaru, go with Tali and have her and Joker teach you all you need to know." Nagato requested of the Nara boy.

"It's a pain, but alright, just give me some clothes, can't go out with this hospital attire."

"I can go and get you something if you want me to." Shepard offered.

"Hrm, sure."

* * *

The Illusive Man looked over the list of new acquisitions from Kalin 3. The list of current candidates in the process of being reanimated; An adult and a teenager. The rest being kept in cold storage while the the crew of Zeus station further expanded their facilities with additional equipment to allow greater number of subjects to be worked on.

The teenager had been found in Bachtein's latest search through Konoha, it was found in a partially demolished morgue. A body the natives kept around for study due to anomalous occurrences related to her. She could hardly be any more than fourteen at least.

Duran had made a very interesting discovery in the depths of one of Sunagakure's facilities. Things related to a container with a heart inside, and riddled with Chakra veins created a long time ago by someone by the name of Sasori. According to information, the container USED to be Sasori. A criminal who somehow managed to turn himself into a living puppet with the container as it's core.

That container had since been taken to the Zeus station where it is currently being studied. The Illusive man relished with the thought of what research options that could potentially open to them. His scientists are already underway trying to artificially create Chakra, with little luck so far. The goal of this research being, on short terms create special armor that could allow operatives to wield the Kalinin's mystical arts themselves.

The expedition on Kalin 3 also excavated a great number of other artifacts and sent them to Zeus station as well for analysis. Nothing particularly interesting, but could possibly be sold on the black market.

He made himself comfortable in the private shuttle of his upon finishing examining the list. He rarely left Minuteman station, but this time he found no reason to stay at HQ. The Illusive man had decided to inspect the operation on Zeus station personally. He felt a small lurch as the shuttle left the station, only waiting long enough for an escorting Frigate to catch up and follow the ship from there.

* * *

Bachtein stood in a sullen mood as he looked over the blasted landscape before him, clutching the note book belonging to late Sarutobi with his left hand as he gazed forward.

"What is it, sir? There's nothing here, we were supposed to head to Takigakure next. Why are we here?"

"There's something I need to see, Henry. I need to know how this world came to grow such a species. And though Sarutobi had no knowledge of what happened beyond a few centuries ago, not unlike the rest of the world. There was a hint. He came around here on a mission once, to this northern peninsula."

"What does that have to do with us coming here?"

"He felt disturbed while passing through this place. There's something ancient here. Ancient beyond knowing. Chakra as if from a distant age long since gone. He was never able to to search for it... but I need to find what he sensed."

"Whatever it was, it's none of our business, is it?"

"It is. I have had a bad feeling ever since I first got the report from the Illusive man. What if the Kalinin are more than we think of them. What if we are in the process of playing with Pandora's box, on the verge of opening it?"

"He would not be too pleased about us going out of our way to investigate what may be false leads."

"Then take the team and investigate Takigakure, I'll call for you once I've satisfied my suspicion."

Henry frowned at his leaders stubbornness about this.. and eventually decided to yield. "Alright, but make sure to call soon. I'll try to cover up for you while you're gone."

"You're a good friend, Henry. Until later."

"Later."

Bachtein took the first step forward as his assistant entered the shuttle and left him behind... down from the mountain on which he stood as he headed north. Armed with a pistol at his side, just in case. Many thoughts running through his mind. After reading through Sarutobi's book, he was no longer able to see the Kalinin as the test subjects which Cerberus have been set on turning them into. The Third Hokage had taken great care in writing about his village, the beauty in which it used to be back then. His pride over his student Genin as they continually grew.

His desire to protect all of Konoha and all it's people. Bachtein took his first long look at the dust covered images that were scattered around the library. In most images he could see a grown up... the Jonin of the team, and the three Genin under his command. He identified some similarities there, seeing the same people as Genin.. and then the other image where they had become a great Jonin in their own right and training the young of the village in turn.

He could not help but identify Konoha as a tree.. the trunk being the village, and the branches being it's people. Almost like a huge family. It was overwhelming to behold. Modern cities out in the galaxy were filled with faceless masses that hardly cared. But in these villages on the other hand... If he still regarded them as test subjects, that sentiment had been blown away in that very moment. He nearly felt ready to quit his work. A decision that could have proven fatal.

But questions still lingered on concerning their ancient history. If he could gleam but a strand of their history before the Sage of the Six Paths. Something, anything that could help them.

He did not carry the illusion that these actions of his would absolve him of his sins he. As long as he could help, he'd have no regret. Even if Cerberus might turn on him in the process.

* * *

It took the greater part of five days of constant work as Konan and Tenten worked on the distraction. They searched for all the military positions and those which would soon be staffed as well as empty streets and buildings. They had managed to procure a great supply of paper, and got help from the others back at the hospital to produce as many explosive tags as possible.

All along, Shikamaru spent his time in simulations.. trying to soak as much of the otherworldly knowledge required to pilot a space craft as possibly while Tali and Joker continually instructed him. To the normally lazy boy, it turned out to be quite tiring, but if it could help them escape this troublesome situation.. he found no time nor reason to complain about it.

"Those clothes sure fit you well." Naruto laughed as Shikamaru returned after another long day.

"Shut up." the Nara growled as he let himself collapse onto the closest bed.. his arms felt like they're about to fall off his shoulders at any moment. Shepard had gotten him some old used clothes; black jeans, light/dark blue striped sweater.. a black jacket and a chullo... which provided no end to the jokes made by Naruto and Hidan. Shikamaru idly wished he still had his old clothes.

"At least you don't have to worry about this mother of a head ache, idiot." Kurotsuchi glared.. quite upset that the attire happened to be all that Shikamaru seemingly complained about. She had woken up three days after the plan began taking shape.

Shepard provided her with clothes matching Shikamaru's.. just with a lot more red color.

Nagato and Onoki kept going over with her about everything that happened since the war on their home world. The primary cause of her head ache.

"Just keep reading, and shut up will you?" Shikamaru groaned, smiling slightly at hearing the girl cursing softly to herself while clumsily browsing to the next page of the PDA Shepard provided for her to use.

Mei on the other hand assisted Naruto and Hinata in producing paper bombs. She appeared to be very lenient towards Naruto whenever he made a mistake. While at the same time being hard on Hinata.. whom behaved no less polite in turn. The Hyuga had made sure to position herself roughly between the two others, as if to block the Mizukage's path.

The clock slowly turned to the sixth day. The elders were in no way willing to part with the tailed beasts in the groups possession. Two of which would have ended with the death of both Naruto and Hinata. The rest being carefully guarded by Nagato's six paths back on the Normandy. Most of them spent the entirety of the time guarding the large sack which Nagato put away in the corner of the crew's quarter. Containing kettles in which the rest of the tailed beasts were stored away inside. All but the Six-tailed and the One-tailed, the location of those two being unknown. Akatsuki had taken most of the tailed beasts from the Demonic statue of the outer path soon after the war with the Geth started, before it vanished. Nagato used Deva Path to talk with the various crew members... and Miranda wasn't allowed to even get close to the crew's quarter.

An hour later.. Tenten stood almost at the very doorstep of C-Sec.. where the Officers present steadily glared at her and generally blocking the way in case she tried to move further in. Smiling innocently, she stepped back out of sight, checked if anyone followed before she brought up her last paper bomb, using her Chakra to stick it to the wall... watching as the tag camouflaged itself, making it invisible to the naked eye.

From there, she quickly rejoined Konan on the way back, which took some doing... since the woman was at least a mile away.. and with most of the people in Zakera evacuated, there was no way to get an air cab.

When she eventually found her; "I've placed the final bomb, what more do we need to do?"

"Nothing till tomorrow. Try to stay calm and don't be afraid."

"I'm trying."

* * *

Far above Zakera, within the depths of the Citadel tower, talks were underway between Anderson and the Salarian councilor.

"How much are you planing to pester me with this?" The councilor asked, his hand resting on his temples.

Anderson glared sternly at him.. "Until you and the others come back to your senses. There are rioting on many worlds because of your decision. Many people are enraged because of how the council have chosen to handle this matter."

"Those rioters are merely malcontents. We have to consider the views of the majority."

"Of course. The majority comes first, but there are times when the minority should be taken heed of. This is one of those times!" Anderson argued. "What will happen once you kill the Kalinin off? Will the rioters voice become silent? Or will conflicts arise?"

"... The rock-slide has already begun, it's too late for the pebbles to vote." the Salarian quietly answered, turning to face the Human.. "Believe me, Anderson... I take no pleasure in this, but if he's right about his assumptions. We should act in the favor of galactic balance and order."

"Listen to yourself, listen to him! You and he are condemning a whole species because they are different from the rest of us." a beat... "Yes, they have great powers beyond our understanding. But they are nothing like the Krogan, nothing like Vorcha, and definitely not anything like the Yahg." - "Sure they can get gruff, but consider their situation. If you saw them close up, you'd see people whom seek to preserve their kind. Even though they are all combatants, the grown ups among them are very protective of their young. Despite their differences from us, they carry a value system similar to ours."

The Salarian was taken aback by this long outburst of Anderson.. "Please understand, we are nowhere close to a point to where we can accept them within our midst."

"They don't have to be accepted right now. All you need to do are to spare their lives, let them leave and they will someday prove that they are worthy of our trust." Anderson continued.. "They could bring great contributions to galactic society eventually. But as long as the Council continue to threaten them... they will lash out harshly in order to protect themselves."

Anderson took a moment to catch his breath. He had to avoid speaking of the Reapers as a way to persuade his fellow councilor's. And thus far, it seemed to go well.

"I see. I understand the point of my colleague. But also yours. I need time to think, if you excuse me."

"I won't take any more time from you then, Councilor. However, let me say this.. Between the choices that are wise, and the choices that are right, there's a deep cliff."

The other nodded slowly as he found a chair to sit down on, staring at the table in deep thought as Anderson left the room.

* * *

The seventh day beckoned, and despite discontent among many inhabitants on the Citadel, The forces of all the major powers were readying for battle. A force of thousands armed with everything up to heavy weapons and support from a larger fleet. The local fleet kept it's distance to make way to the high numbers of Turian cruisers that have been gathering in the space above Zakera.

The Shinobi made their final preparations.. all finishing in short order to pack down everything they needed for the voyage ahead.

Onoki stood before them all, looking at them in turn; Naruto, Hinata, Tenten, Hidan, Kisame who just recently recovered, Kurotsuchi, Nagato, Shikamaru, Konan and Mei. "Alright, this is it." he gruffly motioned to the map he had placed on the wall.

"There is no need for a grand speech, everyone here knows the stakes. Our goal is not to fight them head on, like they are expecting us to. Once we head out, Konan will be poised to activate the diversion.. from there we will go underground deep into the superstructure below us and move with all haste. Our target is C-Sec, more specifically the HQ for Zakera that stand guard before the Presidium. Once there, we will commandeer a ship from their docks, with which to escape."

The old man sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. "I cannot stress this enough. This is not a battle, it's going to be a running retreat."

Alarms began to go off in the districts nearby, calling on troops to march. Messages were being broadcast on different languages, Turian, then Asari, then Salarian.. then Human and so on.

"Do not break the lines, especially not you, youngsters. We need you for our people to have a future. It rests on your shoulders! Don't be reckless. If this all goes as planned, none will die. Not even the enemy." - "Any questions?"

No one came forth with any questions.. everyone knew what to do and not do. There were no doubts in their eyes. And for the briefest moment, the Tsuchikage swelled with pride.

"Then let's go. Let's find ourselves a new home."

* * *

Deep within the Armstrong cluster, the Zeus station rested in the blackness between stars. It's dull gray hull reporting naught of what heinous deeds went on inside.

Within it's walls, a distant girls scream could be heard. As if in a nightmare. The employees within paced to perform their duties without acknowledging the noise. The occasional squads of mechs patrolling the corridors in case of attack.

In a cargo room near the bottom of the station, artifacts from the dead world of Kalin 3 rested in the blackened room. All thoroughly checked before being placed there. All objects that used to be greatly valued by their respective owners. But in the depth of this collection, a single object seemed to pulse.

A figurine made of rock, shaped into the visage of a snake glowed under the effect of a seal breaking. Stone became flesh and scales.. pristine teeth reflected what little light present in the room. It's slitted eyes piercing the darkness as the creature slithered away... looking, searching.

The box finally opened and great evil came forth. For all that lives.


	15. Chapter 15

Bachtein continued through the barren wasteland, looking for any leads, anything that betrayed a shrine or construction of some kind. He had been wandering for most of the day without taking a break. The landscape unnervingly quiet, causing him to expect dangers to pop out of hiding at any time, but he hadn't seen any signs of life.

After a few additional minutes, he arrived at a lonely cliff, overlooking another lifeless valley. However, this place seemed to be filled with the skeletal remains of massive creatures. A place that got him instantly thinking about the legend of the Elephant's graveyard back on Earth. But deep within the valley, he could faintly see signs of ruins.. all alone in the wasteland, surrounded by the ancient bones.

Curious for what might be down there, the scientist quickly climbed down the cliff and ran fast towards the target of his journey. From this distance it faintly the resemblance to that of a cloister or stronghold made entirely out of rock.

However, before he could reach it.. the ground gave away below him. The man releasing a startled wail as he fell. Within the sudden darkness surrounding him, it felt as though there's no bottom in this pit, he lost consciousness for several minutes as he found the bottom.

"Ugh, what?" .. he gasped upon finally waking up. "Where am I?" Bachtein asked, clumsily climbing back on his feet. At first, his eyes could not pierce the dark that had enveloped him. But once his eyes managed to adjust, he discovered that he's inside an underground passage. Surprisingly untouched. Pipes ran above and into the distance both ways.

Getting his bearings, Bachtein checked his weapon and glasses before he walked into the darkness. No sound and no light yet for what seemed like an eternity until he arrived at a rotten wooden door. The scientist brandished his gun and with a few bullets destroyed the lock before kicking the door open.

Beyond it, he found a rocky dome that depicted a rib cage. But otherwise nothing else could be seen. Nothing other than a door made entirely out of stone. Bachtein approached it and pushed in an attempt to open it. For a moment it stood firm, but then it relented.. revealing the space within.

The man found a staircase immediately upon entering. Further underground he encountered a labyrinth of passages. But it did not take long for him to find something, quite literally as he stepped upon it. A trap, causing a massive stone door to shut down behind him, blocking the path back to the stairs. "No..." he groaned in irritation.. but instead of giving in to frustration, he turned and moved on.. believing he's on the right track.

Bachtein brought out a crayon and scribbled on the wall of his starting point before continuing. Down several flights of stairs, making sure to scribble on the walls at every opportunity to avoid getting lost.

His choice of direction provided him with luck though. The deeper he went.. the greater feeling he got that something's down there waiting for him.

In fact, he exited the long winded stairs only to step into a large chamber that revealed a massive grotesque statue sitting cross-legged on a stone construct the shape of a flower. It seemed to be staring into the depths beyond the edge before Bachtein. Riddled with curiosity, he stepped forth to look down, determined to take everything in detail.

"Hey."

Bachtein whirled around in fright at the voice that suddenly spoke up behind him. Coming to look upon a strange creature. Only the upper body seemed to be visible, sticking up from the floor, surrounded by what seemed like a Venus-flytrap. The being completely white on one side and black on the other.

"W-who are you, what are you?" the scientist managed to gasp at length.

The creature tilted his head.. "I should be the one asking you those questions." it irritably noted. "I did not sense your approach and you don't have any Chakra as far as I can feel. So I'll ask, what are you?"

"I? I'm a Human. A-are you a Kalinin?" Bachtein asked, as soon as he looked down at the creature's cloak, noticing the strong similarity to the attire of some of the free ones, according to the report."

"Kalinin?" he asked, tilting his head further.

"Ah. I didn't think there were additional survivors of your species. As I recalled, all that remains are corpses, and a small group of live ones on the other side of the galaxy."

It seemed to squint, as if in thought. "So what Madara said is true... I thought the war taxed him too much."

"Uh, I'm sorry.. Madara who?"

"Huh. A moment." it spoke and sank into the ground, vanishing from sight. The scientist stood confused until a shuffling sound from behind came to his attention. Bachtein turned and saw the being stand to it's full height and slapped it's hands together.

The markings on the wall began to glow intensely bright, and before the light waned, another sound broke through the silence. Bachtein stared at the space before him, only to see a black hole appear in mid-air, apparently staring at him before it expanded until a mask became visible.. followed by the rest of the body, donning the same kind of cloak as the other. This being seemed mildly bemused despite the swirl patterned mask obscuring his face. The other stood besides him.

"Ah, I believe introductions are in order. I am Irvine Bachtein. Cerberus Science Division."

It was quiet for a moment before the masked one spoke, a deep serious voice; "Madara Uchiha. Leader of the Akatsuki"

"Zetsu. Spy from the same organization. What's left of it in any case." The other said.

"I see, it's good to see other Kalinin that managed to survive the war. Er, Kalinin is what the galaxy calls your species."

The awkward stares ceased. "And what brings you to this place?" ... it sounded less like a question and more like a demand. Bachtein faintly detected the red eye within the shadows of Madara's mask, with three tomoes surrounding the iris.

"I, I'm searching for any records concerning ancient history of your species and your world. I found a record describing the sensation of ancient Chakra in this place. I came here to investigate."

"And what interest do you hold in that?"

"I wish to help. My leader wishes to exploit your species special abilities for the sake of the Human race, to rise it above all other species. But under way I've come to have a change of heart. I want to learn more so that I may help those Kalinin whom still are live and free, thanks in no small part to Commander Shepard of the Normandy." Bachtein was quick to answer.

The pressure eased as the man backed off into thought. "Little remain of our ancient history. The part about the Sage of Six Paths are actually the most prominent part of it." ... he paused. "Still, there was one tablet that rose from the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path recently, late during the invasion of the machines."

"Never thought that statue held something like that. Even less that some tablet actually giving off faint Chakra radiation." Zetsu told in turn.

"The message is incomplete though. Parts of it appears to be gone. What can be read, made little sense." Madara said.. "All I could discern from it are the mention of Void Demons, traveling through the stars."

Bachtein stood completely still.. analyzing what Madara described. "Could it mean, The Reapers?" he came to a realization. "It must had been trying to describe an invasion of a hyper advanced race of machines called the Reapers." the others seemed to stare.. "Not those whom attacked you though. "Where is the tablet?"

Madara paused and reached a hand into his cloak and pulled out the tablet. At first it seemed like a piece of stone. But it were in fact made of a type of metallic alloy. Bachtein tried to reach for it, but Madara did not let him. "No. I will hold onto it." he sighed.. "Find a way for us to leave this planet. If you got a suitable vessel for that purpose."

"To the other group?" the scientist asked.. about to explain that he did not know of their current location.

"No." Madara declined, the solitary visible eye narrowed. "Take me to this group of yours, Cerberus." ... if there was any part of Bachtein that tried to reject the order, it vanished completely as the strange eye stared at his very being.. crushing any resistance in his mind.

* * *

The Illusive man arrived an hour ago, and had ventured about the station, seeing the progress of the project up close before he finally entered one of the central labs of the Zeus station.. where teams were already working on the very much awake and struggling subject contained within. There was no need for protective gear, the surroundings being completely safe on this side of the heavily armored window between them and the transparent surgery room. Circular in shape, with a large observation lab outside, circling the whole area around it. He watched in fascination as the young teenager inside screamed and struggled.. standard sedatives had proven useless and now the surgeons and scientists called upon LOKI mechs to restrain her. But seven of them already lies scattered and broken on the floor, invariably ripped to pieces or having a hole punched through them.

"Impressive." he muttered in a low voice. Watching as her hair switched constantly between red and pink. Her eyes from brown to black with orange iris. "Call in YMIR mechs, get her under control."

Head researcher Koliat Tyra turned towards the Illusive man and nodded.. "I've already called for them. It will take a few more minutes before they arrive."

They watched the mechs continue their struggle. Ten LOKI's remaining inside, trying to grab and force the girl down. But they were being thrown around like rag dolls. Incredibly fierce.

"What of the other experiments? Going well?"

Koliat nodded.. "Yes, we are currently working on testing out the new control chips. The first one we implanted on the other subject has proven stable so far."

"Good." The Illusive man replied.. "It's expensive to produce such customized tech. What of further re-animations?"

"We got four subjects currently in the early process. We must first close wounds on the body before we restart the bodies biological functions. It is the part that requires the most care early on. But there are currently no problems for the foreseeable future."

"Good, what about Chakra armor research?" he continued, rising his voice as the enraged cries were accompanied by the screeching of metal being twisted in ways it weren't intended for.

"It's sketchy thus far. We have secured some manner of Chakra armor in the latest shipments, combined with what we learned from Sasori's container.. we are making progress. But we have currently no way to create viable artificial Chakra. What we have right now are extremely unstable and volatile. Useless. How the Kalinin's bodies can produce such energy biologically without dangerous side-effects are beyond me."

"Continue with it. There must be some direction we have had yet to consider on that front."

"Don't worry sir, we ain't giving up. We will solve the puzzle." Koliat reassured him.

At that moment, the girl blasted a hole clean through the last mech in the chamber by the strength of her fist alone. She glowered about angrily and attacked the panel at once specific spot, striking it over and over again in an attempt of breaking it.. but only wounded her own hands in the process.

"YMIR mechs' not here yet?"

"They will arrive soon."

* * *

For a single moment, a shadow came across the ventilation shaft. The creature within, a snake filled with malevolent intent. It glared out of the vent and into the room, in which several people could be seen, all focused on the chamber in the middle. Slowly, the snake dropped itself down to the floor with a dull thump.

It slithered quietly, without a sound... Little remained of it's short life, all it can do is to pass on what it had been entrusted. A mission. It quickly scanned the people present, many of which wore white uniforms in the style of protection gear. And one whom seemed much more formally dressed. And that seemed like the best candidate.

Bolting forward, the creature slithered across the floor with all speed without giving itself away.

One scientist looked away from the girl with a wince and came to stare straight down at the animal on the floor. "Wha... watch out, snake!"

The Illusive man blinked as he gazed searchingly at the floor.. only barely discovering the serpent from the edge of his vision. It increased it's pace, it's fang open and ready. With that, it launched itself through the air.

The man tried to lift his foot away from it, but too late. It bit down on his ankle, and hard. Sinking it's teeth deep into the limb, causing the man to cry out in pain.

Koliat knelt down quickly and grabbed the snake by it's neck, prying it off their leaders leg with great urgency. But the moment the snake let go.. it suddenly crumbled into dust in his very hand. "What the?" he uttered in surprise.. looking up to see the Illusive man falling forward, supporting himself just barely on the computer panel in front of him, trembling uncontrollably.

One of the other scientists rushed to the intercom; "Infirmary! Containment breach, send a medical team, stat!"

The Illusive man trembled as he fought to stay on his feet, but failed. He felt cold, a rising regret over his own lack of caution. Then another one scratched against his mind. Distant raging cries penetrating the haze that seemed to appear before his eyes. And in a split moment, a voice of annoyance which he realized wasn't his own spoke up towards the Kalinin prisoner as he flashed his eyes open in anger. "Silence, Tayuya!"

The girl's eyes inside the chamber snapped open and stopped mid-scream. Trembling in fear as she fell on her knees. She ceased her struggles immediately, breathing heavily much to the scientists' rising confusion. "What was that?" a few seemed to whisper. By the time the medical team arrived, the Illusive man had fainted. Koliat cried out in urgency, closing the experiment for the time being while the girl were taken away by a newly arrived YMIR mech.

"How did a snake get in here, sir?" one of the personnel asked.

Koliat wasn't sure of what to think. It's practically unheard of for such a creature to get into such a heavily secured facility this far out.. completely unheard of. "I don't know. Get our guards to do a full sweep of the base. I want no more surprises!"

* * *

The first few explosions went off, plumes of fire rose high into the air three full streets away from the hospital, and caught the assembled troops nearby completely by surprise. Nearby alien forces prepared themselves for an ambush that never came. Another explosion, much closer to their location, fully within sight, covering the nearby street and followed by several secondary detonations. The soldiers opened fire in unison at the affected street, believing that the Kalinin had decided to rush them. It took several seconds of continuous fire before the Commanders on sight managed to draw the conclusion that there is no enemies present in the street before them.

To the rest of the Citadel forces gathered upon the Zakera wards, the noise only sounded like dull thumps in the distance. The closest ones to their location, 3rd platoon arrayed themselves to provide assistance when several detonations shook their surroundings, all within firing outward in all directions.

Similar occurrences happened near the 5th and the 9th. And soon only chaos seemed to exist as the assembled forces had no single front to focus upon, trying to make sense of the situation.

"What a rumble, hope those yields aren't too high... Konan." Onoki gruffly told the woman as she hovered past him. clouds of paper trailing behind her. The rest moving foot. Penetrating into the depths of the superstructure wasn't too hard, Naruto and Kisame quickly disassembled what obstructions appeared on the way as they followed through the deep tunnels below the wards surface.

"High enough to draw their attention.. but the most of the explosive force are focused upward. Can't promise that no ones getting injured though, especially if they stand too close."

"How many did you guys make, anyways. There's a hell of a lot of explosive tags you girls are setting off upstairs."

"Don't ask, I lost count underway." Mei responded with a groan.

Naruto furrowed his brows.. "Same here..."

"Hey, watch it!" Shikamaru yelped as he accidentally toppled a Volus, who attempted to conduct some business with shady folks whom did not obey the evacuation order. The boy bumping into Hidan as he rebounded.

"Mind your own personal space, bra-" what Hidan intended to say next was deafened as Tenten remotely detonated another group of explosive tags. That chain of explosions occurred not too far away above them. And to divide forces, Konan blew up more on the other side of the station.

"They are growing steadily more disorganized." Hinata reported, keeping an eye on the activity on the surface with her Byakugan.

"Alright, don't let up, Konan, Tenten." Nagato breathed with notable appreciation.

"B-but, I wonder..." Hinata asked.. pausing. "I only see Turians and Asari. Where are the rest?"

No one could answer that.

"Where are your Six Paths?" Naruto asked, just coming to mind.

Nagato hummed.. "Still on the Normandy. I will summon them once we get off this station. Using such a Jutsu could betray our location if we're not careful." he made sure to note due to the fact that the Citadel forces sensors would manage to detect them if they used some Chakra expensive technique.

* * *

Deva and Asura Path stared warily at the elevator. They could hear an argument going on upstairs between C-Sec officers and some of the crew members.. Mordin's rapid speech pattern could be heard among them.

Garrus stepped up to Deva Path from around the corner. "Still there?"

"Yes, we'll be gone soon though."

"Get back to the crew's quarter. We'll keep them busy if they manage to get past those upstairs." Grunt spoke with a broad smile, apparently looking forward to some real fisticuffs.

"Alright, thank you." Deva Path responded with the slightest sign of a smile as it and Asura Path moved away.

The noise of the elevator moving came to their attention within the next moment.

"Time to hold them off, ready Grunt?"

"Who do you think you're talking to? I'm always ready for a fight."

* * *

"Did you manage to pull out your forces out of there in time?" Anderson asked.

The Salarian councilor gave a slow nod. "Yes. Though one could hardly call this a fight."

"A lot of show, but nothing particularly substantial. Got all Human forces off Zakera before the first explosion. Now the Kalinin should have a much greater gap through which to escape."

Anderson and his colleague watched the situation evolve through their tactical view screens on board the damaged Destiny Ascension. Their fellow councilors watching on screens of their own on the other side of the same room.

"Damn it, where are they?! Why have you withdrawn your forces?" the Turian argued, briefly taking his eyes away from the screen to glare at them.

The Salarian councilor shrugged.. "Obviously the Kalinin is trying to confuse us. They could be anywhere so we have withdrawn our forces and readied them for rapid redeployment for when the targets finally show themselves."

"Smooth." Anderson whispered softly, his colleague could not help but smile. The Turian turned away, finding the strategic choice of action quite sound. Considering the situation they had all found themselves in. "If something goes wrong, I got at least three counter measures up my sleeves."

"Let's hope we won't need that."

* * *

A service hatch in the floor opened close to the entrance of C-Sec, the Kalinin slowly climbing out of it. Kurotsuchi got out first, taking a quick look around before she lent a hand to the next one to join her. Kisame came up next.. followed by Naruto, Mei, Hinata, Tenten, Konan, Shikamaru, Hidan, Onoki and finally Nagato.

"It's going to get harder form here, so stay alert. We can not allow them to set off the alarm." Onoki whispered as the group carefully moved forward to the closest corner, around which the entrance to C-Sec could be seen, just across the plaza. A dozen officers stood there in various places, keeping watch on the area to make sure no trespassers could get near.

"Take note of the uniforms, and use transformation." Shikamaru suggested.

"Alright, we'll do just that. Everyone, be ready for combat in case they won't let us past. If so... subdue them. But do not kill." Nagato told the others with a low voice. All of them made the necessary hand signs, transforming into a mixed crew of Asari, Turians and Humans accordingly.

"Good, move out and try not to attract unnecessary attention." Nagato said before the group left their position and moved towards the entrance. A few of the guards turned towards them, as to inspect the approaching officers.

Nagato and the others tried to walk into the C-sec HQ, but soon, the officers began to approach them, especially one in particular. Obviously the one in command of this squadron. "I'm sorry, I need you to provide your ID card, and service number please. With all the confusion going on around here, we need to make sure. Chief's orders."

Nagato nodded very slowly.. "Ah... yes." he looked over his shoulder at the others and raised an open palm. "I apologize for the inconvenience.. but, Shinra Tensei."

The officer quirked an eyebrow at him before he and the two behind him were promptly blown away into the opposing wall, the impact force making them lose consciousness. The rest bolted blurred into motion before the other guards could recover enough to retaliate in kind.

Exactly thirty seconds later, a Turian was blasted through the glass door of the station, two gaping holes in the back of his armor and injured the skin beneath. But the target was out cold.

"Hinata, don't use Twin lion fist against regular guards. He could have died from that." Nagato chastised the girl.. "What if the alarm went off because of that?"

"I-I'm sorry." Hinata sheepishly replied.. Fortunately, the station seemed empty as they stepped through the shattered opening in the entrance one by one. But not for long, shouting could be heard from a distance.

"Come, Tali told me that we must to go up the first flight of stairs we get to." Shikamaru hollered as he gestured to the stairs.. the others quickly followed in turn. "We need to keep following the stairs on the way up."

"Alright, just... damn it!" Hidan uttered as they cleared the first set of stairs before suddenly coming face to face with a squad of fully armed officers, about to open fire.

They acted as if in a blur. Hidan pulled out the full length of his scythe, Kisame grabbed Shikamaru and Naruto by their necks, throwing himself to the floor, bringing the youngsters down with him as well. Those being further down the stairs ducked as well in turn.

"Aw hell no you don't!" Hidan bawled as he threw his scythe at the assailants, manipulating it's trajectory with the cable attached to it, impaling the gun arm of the lead officer even as bullets shot through the air. Hidan, knowing that he had by far the least to lose by getting hit.. acted like a meat shield for the others. Two more attacks coming up besides him.

"Bensho Ten'in!" removing the guns from the hands of the two others, quickly followed by;

"Suiton: Suikodan no Jutsu!" striking the officers down with a well placed water shark projectile.

"Kami... we must hurry before more come after us." Konan urgently suggested as she helped the teens back up each in turn, whirling around again once she had helped Shikamaru back onto his feet. Twin howls could be heard further down.

"Suiton: Mizurappa no Jutsu!" from Kurotsuchi, and...

"Yoton: Yokai no Jutsu!" from Mei Terumi.

"They're coming at us from behind!" Tenten told the others.

"Then run, don't fight them!" Onoki urged the others forward with all haste.. and speed they gained in an immense case of haste as they kept moving up the stairs ahead.. shouts coming up behind them while the sirens began to wail. During the running retreat, Tenten dropped an explosive tag behind her, which went off a minute before, throwing off pursuit for the moment.

But then, the sirens suddenly stopped. A few of the Shinobi looked up in confusion, but did not dwell much on the cause before they pressed on.

* * *

"My apologies. Just need to borrow this panel for a moment." Thane flatly spoke, having broken into the control room of this particular station as Shepard ordered him to do. The infiltration went without a hitch, Citadel Security have numerous flaws and drawbacks he could easily make use of. He quickly shut down the alarm after having beaten down the few personnel operating the equipment. "There." ... A blinking light pulled the Drell's attention towards the other side of the board.. reserved for communications.

He opened the channel.

"What is going on down there?" a uniform voice spoke up through it.

Thane hesitated a second before he replied.. "We apologize. It was a false alarm. Everything is clear."

The voice spoke up again; "Another one? Tch, fine. But give us another false alarm and you will be out looking for a new job!"

"I understand." Thane replied.. this station seemed to be out of luck these days. But he did not dwell long on it before he turned back to the unconscious officers and restrained them before leaving.

* * *

It took a while, but eventually the refugee group of Shinobi arrived at the top, where a storage room presented itself to them, with a massive blast door shut at the end. Simply following Shikamaru, they ran up to it. Hidan and Kisame stayed behind to place a few crates to bar the door to the stairs.

"It's closed, Shikamaru. What gives?" Naruto asked as he kicked the blast door.

"Calm down, they told me that Councilor Anderson guy arranged for some inside hel-" and no more did he manage to say before the doors suddenly shuddered as the machinery within did it's work. Slowly, it slid apart to reveal a small gap for them to slip through.

"Come on through!" a females voice called out to them.

Konan recognized it.. "Viviana?" the woman stepped through the opening to confirm it.

"Yeah, it's me. I was given the task to help you guys escape."

"Wow, I thought it'd be someone else entirely." Tenten admitted out loud as she followed through, as well as everyone else.

The Asari officer giggled.. "Yeah, but to have you know. Not everyone supports the higher ups decisions. Particularly not when something like this happens. Come, this way. I'll show you to the ship." she turned to lead the way.

A few of the Shinobi exchanged glances before following her. The docks seemed quite empty.

"Here you go." Viviana gestured to a lone Kowloon class freighter. Close to the nose of the ship, the name 'MSV Garden' could be seen.

"It's scheduled for launch tomorrow, so it is as ready as it can get without a full crew. Mind you the name of the ship is misleading. It's got extensive brig compartments for transportation of criminals. There are sufficient food and equipment for a full crew the long time it takes to reach the designated space prisons." Viviana quickly explained, movement could be heard within the next heartbeat. "Get on board, hurry!"

"What about you?" Konan asked.

Viviana shrugged.. "Don't worry about me. Just knock me out cold before you leave. I'll get away clean that way. Now go."

Konan nodded to the others, whom proceeded to board the craft. No ladder or staircase could be seen, so the Shinobi boarded the ship by simply leaping up to the airlock, got it opened and entered in due order. She turned towards Viviana and pulled back a curled fist as the distant footsteps and clatter of weapons drew closer.

"Thank you for your help, Viviana."

"My pleasure." the Asari responded with a smile just before Konan landed her blow and knocked her out cold before she turned to follow her comrades. A lone bullet impacted the wall next to her head just as she entered. Sparing a glimpse over her shoulder before closing the airlock.

At the front of the ship, Shikamaru struggled with the controls. Meditating briefly as he wrestled with his memories of the lectures he got. What to do first, and then next.. and.

"Come on already, we ain't got all day!" Kurotsuchi cried out from the other end of the corridor behind Shikamaru.

"Be quiet, can't you see he's needs some time?" Mei Terumi asked in exasperation at the others lack of patience.

"Time we don't have, old hag!"

A low blow by all accounts. Mei could not form coherent words in the midst of her fit of anger. Momentarily feeling an urge towards twisting the girls neck.

Despite the interruption. He soon got it and moved his hands mechanically across the instruments before him. Starting up the reactor and got a stable mass effect field running before giving the engine a short warm-up period before he jolted the ship into motion.

Heck, he had too little time to get the science of these things down. Slowly, the ship cleared the docks, staring into the wide space beyond. And their greatest challenge so far in this endeavor. Getting past the assembled fleet without being noticed as it with it's dozens of cruisers and smaller ships hovered above the Zakera wards, their collective attention fixed almost solidly on the surface beneath them. Further away the massive Destiny Ascension moved along with surrounding Human cruisers watching the scene from afar. Sweat beads trailed down his forehead as he made the ship accelerate some more.

"Hey, step on it already, fucking slowpoke!" Hidan yelled almost into the Nara's ear before Mei could stop him.

"Ugh, I can't go faster in this situation!" he groaned back, having covered his affected ear from the loud bawl.

"Why the hell not?"

"Because they'd notice us if we did." Shikamaru explained plainly.

Kisame and Naruto, having been angered by Hidan's goading, grabbed the man by his arms and neck and pulled him away.

Further away, in the neighboring compartment. Onoki sat down.. "Damn my back, it'll be good to get away from this place."

"I'd say." Nagato murmured in response as he eventually left Hidan with Kisame.

"Now how about summoning your Paths and the cargo hereto?"

"Hmm, in just a minute. Shikamaru!" he hollered.. getting an annoyed groan in reply. "Notify me when we are close to the relay!"

"Roger that." came the lazy drawl.

* * *

Shepard paced through the space between the elevator and the crew's quarter, ignoring the C-Sec officers that he found lying scattered across the floor.. quite thoroughly beaten up by the tag-team composed of Garrus and Grunt.

"They put up a fight?"

"Yeah, but they weren't so tough." Grunt boasted with a smirk.

"Have they gotten away yet? The Kalinin?" Garrus asked.

Shepard shrugged.. "Why not ask Nagato?" he said as if nothing could be simpler as he went straight to the place where the Kalinin most often stayed at during their time on the Normandy.

The beds stood completely undisturbed within the chamber. The Six Paths stood around the table.. Naraka Path in the process of hefting the big sack which the Kalinin kept with them for whatever reason. But Shepard was starting to understand what it might contain.

"Commander Shepard." Deva Path spoke. "We are nearly at the Mass relay. We'll be leaving soon."

"We wish you the best of luck, I hope we will see you again." Shepard replied with a nod.

At that, Preta Path produced a card from its' sleeve. "You have been a good friend, and having saved us, not once but twice. We owe you a great debt. This card here is Chakra encoded. It can lead you to us if you need our help in the future."

Shepard accepted the card and gazed at it for what seemed like a long time. For a moment he would have liked nothing more than to ask the Kalinin to aid him against the Reapers... but a big part of him convinced himself that doing so would be wrong. Most of the crew members comes from very much extant species... but the Kalinin are so few, too few. He could not place that burden upon their shoulders. It would be better to let them go, and see where destiny takes them all.

"Yeah, well. Don't feel too shy to simply drop by." Garrus chuckled.

As did Grunt, more deviously though.. "Yes. I wanna see you duel again."

"Hm, we'll see." Deva Path looked up. "Give our regards to the others, and a humble thanks to Councilor Anderson. Until later, farewell." it finished before it and the other Paths vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Later then." Shepard mumbled with a smile before he turned to leave the room, followed by his comrades in turn.

* * *

"And there they went." Anderson declared in triumph once the blip with the designation MSV Garden left through the Mass relay.

His Salarian colleague smiled in turn.. "Must say I was surprised. The casualty report have just come in. Sixty wounded, but no deaths. Seems they are indeed worthy of a second chance."

"Yes indeed, though it will take a while before Zakera can return to normal. But it's a small price to pay. What is destroyed can be rebuilt."

"Rightly so, Councilor Anderson." the Salarian sighed. "I saw we take a break now, long over due."

"Can't just yet, he could get suspicious of us." Anderson responded, gesturing to their Turian colleague, whom looked just about ready to throw a fit.

The Salarian shrugged. "Point taken. Out of curiosity, do you know where the Kalinin will be going?"

Anderson paused to think.. "Far, far away. I don't know where, but that's for the better."


	16. Chapter 16

A week had gone by since the brief conflict on the Citadel ended. Everything appeared to had gone back to a semblance of normality. But the mission still stood before them. The star system; The Shadow Sea stood as host to a lone human colony, though it was among many in the Terminus systems.

The local Mass relay stayed where it had been since time immemorial. Then, a reaction built up, the concealed mechanisms propelled the rings to revolve at a greater pace for a few seconds, enough to usher the Normandy SR-2 into the system.

Shepard sat in his room, reading through the latest reports. He quickly ordered EDI to scan the system for any anomalies. But nothing so far. The man grimaced... they had been trying to locate any sign of Collector activity, jumping between several human held systems without a trace of the enemy.

He soon got the confirmation that there aren't any hint of Collector presence. For all intents and purposes, the local Horizon colony stood untouched by even the rumor of the disappeared colonies.

"Are you sure, EDI? No sightings?" Shepard asked, frustration entering his voice.

"Yes, Commander. There are no signs of Collectors anywhere within this system."

He stood up and paced back and forth restlessly at the clarification, considering the situation the Normandy had found itself in. "Any message yet from the Illusive man?"

"Negative. there has not been word yet."

A sigh. Shepard found himself a situation where he had no choice but to admit that with no back-up from Cerberus, his mission had taken a turn for the worse.

He shuffled into the elevator and went down. As much as he did not want to admit it, though Miranda lately had proved herself as a liability at times, exactly because of the Kalinin business. He was out of options. He needed to ask the woman directly.

Once the elevator opened again, he paced through the curving corridor to the right.. towards Miranda's office at the end of the bend. He simply walked in without any consideration of knocking. He found her typing on her computer, in the midst of a foul mood.

"Miranda, got time to talk?"

The woman visibly shuddered as she regarded him.. "Yeah, why not?" she asked coldly.

"Have you been in touch with the Illusive man lately?"

"No. He haven't answered any of my calls." she grimaced.. "You know why?"

"Not at all. I was wondering if _you_ knew. With so little backup, we need Cerberus to stay updated on Collector movements. If you got anything we need, I'd appreciate it."

She mulled over his words. "Been quite a while since last time you entrusted me with anything."

"With what has been going on, who could blame us for not trusting you. But this would go a long way towards regaining some of that trust."

She rubbed her temples, some measure of her foul mood rearing it's ugly face. "All I think is that you may have rubbed him the wrong way one time too many, and dedicated more attention to the possible project he is undergoing concerning the Kalinin. All I know is that he got a lab somewhere, but don't ask.. I don't know its location."

"Did you ask any of your contacts?"

"Considering it. I don't have much of an option anymore. Was about to try and contact the leader of one of the intelligence crews stationed in the Terminus systems as you came in. Could you leave for the moment so I may assess the situation? I'll notify you if I find anything."

Shepard contemplated this.. certainly went better than he thought. And as much as he wanted to stay and keep a watchful eye over her shoulder... he decided that the best course of action would be to leave her be for the time being. "Alright, I'll be out in the mess hall."

Miranda nodded as she turned her attention back to the computer.. sighing in relief as the Commander left her office. Truth be told, she had been trying to establish contact with Operative Jones for a while now... He owns several safe houses in Omega, so she had no choice but to keep searching through the frequencies until someone answers her calls. She shifted through several additional codes before the search finally provided gratifying results.

"Hey, at bloody time you guys called. What have you guys been doing all this time?" a voice uttered in response as the call was answered.

A pit formed in her stomach.. "Wait, hold on. You haven't heard from the Illusive man either?"

"Miranda Lawson?" the question came... though the one on the other end quickly recovered from the surprise.. "What do you mean? You're one of his most trusted agents, miss Lawson!"

"I haven't been able to contact him for a full week. I was wondering if others may have heard something."

"Huh? Does that mean he's..."

"No. Cerberus could not possibly be taken down so quickly... and even less found him."

"Damn, that just makes yet another oddity these days." the voice coughed.

"What do you mean?" Miranda grimaced with concern.

A hum... "First all the commotion about the so-called Kalinin. Then the Collectors stopped appearing.. and then.."

"Wait, hold on. There have been no further Collector attacks?"

"That's right. It's been quite a few weeks since they halted all harvesting ops. Or at least, none sighted."

"Since when? Tell me."

"They stopped right after the supposed day when your precious investment decided for you all to investigate Kalin 3."

Damn.

"That means..." she considered the implications of the message. "Do you know anyone who might know what's going on?"

"Hrmm, well, I suppose Operative Galen might know something. He's a perimeter guard of sort at HQ. If anyone I have knowledge of knows about things happening at Cerberus. It could possibly be him. Sending over the communication codes so you may contact him now."

Miranda's computer elicited a soft beep as the transfer notification went off. "Thank you. I'll make sure to see if I can reestablish contact. But please, keep an eye out for Collector activity. Report directly to me until we can shed a light on the situation."

"Roger that." Jones replied in the affirmative. "I'll get back to work then, take care miss Lawson." and the transmission ended immediately.

Miranda scratched her chin before checking the received codes.. and subsequently attempted to establish connection with this Operative Galen. And a minute quickly went by before she received an answer.

"Yeah? Who is this?"

"This is Operative Miranda Lawson speaking. Jones recommended you when it came to recent happenings at HQ. What can you tell me of recent occurrences?"

"Wha... no joke? Ah, well..." Galen began awkwardly. "Last concrete information I know about is that the Illusive man went to inspect the place where research concerning the Kalinin are being committed. And... have had yet to return."

Miranda thought about it for a second... "Nothing else...?"

"Nothing... except." he seemed to hesitate. "A couple of squads of Cerberus Commandos were recently dispatched to planet Klencory in the Newton system, Kepler Verge."

"Klencory... but that place. There's nothing there."

"Don't know the reason. All I know is that the mission's important enough that it will be led by a reanimated Kalinin."

"What?"

"Yeah.. but that's all I know. Sorry, but I can't really stand around like this. If there's anything more you need to ask of me, be quick please."

"... Don't worry, that will be all. Thank you for the information."

"Yeah, right-oh." ... transmission ended.

Miranda stood up from her desk and paced across the office towards the door. Deep in thought.. "What's going on here?" she whispered to herself.

* * *

"How much longer... ?" Zetsu asked, sitting on a crate some distance from the two others.

Bachtein turned slightly... "Not much longer. Managed to contact him just barely. Told him I got something truly valuable, but that I would only deliver it to him in person."

They had some days ago commandeered a shuttle and taken off from Kalin 3. It wasn't easy for Bachtein to convince Henry into handing it over. Since then they traveled all the way to the abandoned Freedom's Progress. A colony which Human population were abducted by the Collectors. Everything was dusty and slowly falling into disrepair from lack of maintenance. Some rotten smell persisted as the food left in the open decayed.

Madara waited quietly, keeping a wary eye on Bachtein.. Making sure that the scientist don't get any second doubts with his Sharingan. He only turned upon hearing an abrupt noise coming from further away... behind them.

A young girl leaped in, crashing into the pavement, steeling herself as she looked at each person before her in turn. Zetsu vaguely recognized her.. "Hey, ain't that the girl from late Orochimaru's Sound Four?" he asked... thinking back a few years past.

The girl huffed a confused response, never having met the man before. She knelt down, though seemingly prone to attack them at any moment. Tayuya looked over her shoulder and nodded. As if giving a signal.

Madara stood up along with the others as they approached, though stopping a bare teen feet away when the girl suddenly growled a warning. Madara did not feel threatened, but halted his advance anyway.

Behind her, a well dressed man appeared, tossing away the well-lit cigar he held. Artificial eyes glowing bright blue in the shadows before he came out in the open with a smile.

"Well well, Professor Bachtein. You sure have made a good find here." he turned to the two Kalinin. "Long time no see, Madara Uchiha. Zetsu."

The Uchiha blinked.. "And how do you know my name?" he growled.

The Illusive man gave off a soft grin as he came closer.. another man coming out of the shadows... another revived Kalinin, but with a very empty expression. Madara recognized him as a Kumogakure Jonin, Darui.

"How I know you?" The Illusive man chuckled, covering his face with a palm.. and he moved it away.. a familiar face were exposed before those before him. The hair had turned dry, the artificial eyes had been replaced by black eyes and circular glasses. His face turned slimmer, and more scaly on top of that. There was not a flicker of doubt.

"Kabuto... I thought you died." Madara whispered.. somehow he did not look surprised.

"I was at deaths door indeed. I had no further options left to me that could be considered viable. Until a presence displayed itself as if from a saving angel."

"The Normandy?" Bachtein guessed... a mix of horror and surprise evident on his face upon recovering from his initial surprise.

Kabuto laughed.. "Exactly. Discovering that there are life beyond our world. I found one option still open to me. I sealed a sample of my genes... even my soul and sealed it within one of my snakes. My original body died, but I staked my chances with the potential to take an alien body as a host in the future."

"That's a huge gamble, even for you." Madara narrowed his eyes.

"Yes. But it payed off. The snake found the leader of a major organization with great scientific and military resources, not to mention a well-developed spy network. The snake bit him. Rest was easy."

A groan... "And here I was going to kill the one plundering our world."

"Hah, if you're seeking revenge. There's a whole galaxy out there that will deserve all that's coming to them. May I offer an alliance?"

"What's the catch?" Madara asked, his eyes narrowing further.

"None. I'm sure I know enough about you to know that though we might ally for different reasons. We got mutually beneficial goals."

"..."

"It's time to head back, feel welcome to join us. Madara, Zetsu, Bachtein." Kabuto turned to Tayuya.. "As for you, you take the remaining shuttle and go to Klencory."

"Sir?" Tayuya asked curiously, quite wide eyed as Kabuto gave him a paper tag with a strangely familiar sign on it. She could feel that it's heavily loaded with malevolent chakra.

"You will lead the Commandos traveling to the same planet. Your mission is to recover whatever artifact that have been excavated by the Volus, Kumun Shol and his crew, and bring it to me."

"Any reason for her to take it?" Madara asked out of curiosity.

"That Volus had the idea of broadcasting his findings, some of the signs on the artifact resemble our language." Kabuto grimaced.. "Long shot, but I got a good feeling about the venture."

Madara thought about it... and the more he thought.. the more sense it made. The artifact recovered from the statue of the outer path came to mind. Kabuto could not possibly had known of the tablet he found. The possibility of a second similar artifact on a distant world intrigued him.

Tayuya managed to get her word in with the pause.. "Yes, sir! I'll get it done." a grin plastered upon her face as she looked down upon the tag, having finally recognized it.

"Don't use it unless you encounter a certain crew." Kabuto said, having previously leaked out some information to a few of his operatives. He promptly turned to leave.. Darui followed him. Madara considered the situation for a bit before he decided to tag along, the others following him in turn.

Tayuya however left to find the shuttle Madara & company used to get here. Having been taught how to pilot specific types of space craft, she took off, although clumsily at first before getting the hang of it and went on her way. To Klencory.

* * *

"You sure about that?" Garrus asked Miranda with some hint of doubt.

"Though she has committed wrongs in the past, if this information is true. We may yet find important information concerning our common enemies." Samara told him in turn... she wasn't defending Miranda.. but she appeared to be willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"Better than nothing, Garrus. We have been going all over with neither a hint nor a clue. Cerberus don't deploy Commandos for no reason. We need all the Intel we can get at this point." Shepard noted.

"Thank you." Miranda told Shepard with the sign of a smile. "We should hurry to Klencory before those Commandos recover what they seek. If you need another reason to their missions importance.. They will be deployed with a Kalinin as the commanding officer."

The eyes around her turned wide.. Shepard quickly opened a link to the cockpit.. "Joker, set course for Kepler Verge, Newton system! And step on it!"

Joker's replied in a confused manner before he dropped any question he had for the time being. "Aye, aye, Commander. Going there now." he continued before altering the course, making a full turn and headed back to the Mass relay. It'd take passing through at least three of them before reaching target destination... already feeding data to the relay as the Normandy approached it at full speed.

"We have to move fast, whatever they want on Klencory that are important enough to warrant a Kalinin to take command. It must be big." Shepard told both the helmsman and those there with him before leaving the mess hall, heading back to his room. Conversations erupting among the crew members present as he left.

* * *

Space warped for a split second before the Normandy appeared in the blackness of space, having slowed down for sub light speed in it's final approach towards Klencory.

"EDI, what can you tell me about this planet?" Shepard requested, having gone to the cockpit to see the planet as they approached.

"Klencory is the second planet orbiting the star Newton. It is a rock and ice planet with an atmosphere composed of chlorine and argon. I detect various dig sites dotted around these coordinates." said coordinates displayed themselves on a diagram of the planet shown on the main viewing screen of the co-pilot's spot.

"Any com traffic to take note of?"

"The outer dig sites are quiet, but the com traffic around the central underground compound are patchy."

"What are they saying?"

"... They are currently under attack. The enemy are most likely the Cerberus Commandos Miranda spoke of. They also mention anomalies disrupting the defenses, violent illusions among other things."

"Then we must go down there and quick." Shepard turned around to head back to the elevator. "Tell Garrus, Miranda and Samara to move down to the hangar. We'll be heading right into a fight!"

* * *

It took them no less than three minutes before they all left in the Kodiak and raced down towards the surface, the shuttles mass effect fields fighting off the heat from reentry before they could truly pick up speed for their intended target. Which wasn't visible until their final approach.

Like many other compounds they had found across many lightly inhabited places, the only visible part of the HQ on this planet appeared to be a small round construct contrasting the rugged ground around it. Upon getting closer, they could see faint signs of a hangar further away, most likely for the vehicles belonging to the expedition.

The Kodiak shuddered as bullets impacted with it's hull.

"Open side hatch." Garrus requested as he hefted his M-92 Mantis.

All secured their helmets into place, and the interior atmosphere equalized with that of the outside before Shepard opened it.

Further bullets tried to dart in, while the Kodiak committed itself to banking lazily around the installation on the ground. Garrus seized the moment the gunfire quieted down. He found his first target and pulled the trigger.

The bullet flew true and the sniper was rewarded with the target collapsing as the bullet gutted it. The second Commando looked to his comrade before resuming firing at the shuttle above, more wildly this time.

Garrus sympathized with such a gesture, but he needed to finish the job.. The Turian took aim once again and fired immediately once he acquired his target. The body crumpled as the bullet plowed through the head.

"Take us down." Shepard instructed, and the Kodiak began the final descent to the front entrance of the building.

"They were most likely only stationed outside to prevent surprises. Chances are, they are on full alert by now." Miranda notified the others as they made landfall and continued to the entrance to access it.

They stood to the sides as it opened, just in case. But when nothing came out, Shepard took point and the rest followed. The door closed itself behind them, the atmosphere inside equalizing before they could be ushered fully into the base. But they kept from detaching helmets just in case. As one they moved in. And found themselves immediately under fire from at least four Commandos.

Samara seized the initiative and blasted away one of them with a Biotic throw. The rest finding cover behind whatever cover they could find, Shepard and Garrus toppled a table and took aim from there.

Both having equipped their assault rifles, they quickly provided suppression fire against their current opponents while Miranda and Samara used their biotics to lift the Commandos from their cover to more easily dispatch them.

The fight barely lasted a minute before it was over, allowing the group to continue through the corridor that would allow them into the greater hall beyond.

It quickly became obvious that whomever funded this venture, must be incredibly rich. The main chamber of this compound looked big enough to fit in a city block. The bottom of the chamber being several stories beneath them at least. The chamber largely circular in shape.

It took EDI a few moments to hack into the computers of the facility to get an overview of this place. The top floor, where they currently are. Seemed to be filled mostly with offices. The living space for the personnel being provided by the floor immediately below them. And below that again, storage rooms and furthest down the machinery essential to this base. It wasn't built like a mining site, instead it filled the role as the central base where the people of the expedition lived. The hangar outside allowing them to reach the dig sites and so on.

A groan could be heard as they headed towards the great lift that dominated the other side of the top floor. The group opened a few doors to find where the sound came from, until they finally found a dying Turian clutching a gaping wound on the left side of his torso. His armor indicating a member of the Blue Suns.

"Ugh, y-you real?" the mercenary gasped through gritted teeth.. his mandibles trembling from the pain.

"Yes, we came here to help:" Shepard responded reassuringly.

The Turian shrugged with a cough.. "Kh.. leave now, if you value your lives! This place has become haunted, horrors are coming out of the walls. The nightmares. Some took their own lives because of them."

"Com traffic indicated illusions. Is that true?"

"Illusions... whatever they were, it was horrible. Ugh. Saw a dead relative of mine just as something punched me.. not shot, punched! Look what it did to me." several more coughs, his breathing turned irregular rapidly.

"Take it easy, we'll get you out of here!" Garrus spoke in a hurry. Just as music could be heard from the distance, as if from a flute. "... What the?"

"Oh no, their coming back. The horrors! The horr...!" the Turian flailed weakly before his breathing ceased, dead within a heartbeat.

Miranda turned around as she thought she just heard the ghostly giggle of a child in the distance. "What's going on here?"

"Be careful. Remember there's a Kalinin among them. With all that they can do, I would not be surprised if illusions happen to be one of their tricks." Shepard told the others in a hurry, also hearing strange ethereal voices.

"Roger that." Garrus mouthed as they all stood up and resumed their pace through the curving corridors until finally reaching the lift which took them down a level.. stopping abruptly at the living quarters.. just as several more Commandos appeared, seemingly crazed as something akin to lightning bolted across their armor. They thrust their hands forward and clapped them together as one, firing several arcs of lightning that tore up the panels on both floor and walls as they raced towards the intended targets.

The attack would have succeeded if it weren't for Miranda and Samara rushing upfront, erecting a biotic barrier.. both pressed back a few feet as the lightning lances struck the barrier. The assault lasted for a full five seconds before it ceased. At which point Shepard and Garrus took aim with their rifles and fired back at the very much stationary targets as they charged up for yet another attack, but failed as the hailstorm of bullets struck them all down as one.

But before they could go to inspect the bodies of the new threat, the elevator jolted back into movement and headed down further.

* * *

Tayuya shook her head at the disappointing result. So weak. She suspected that Kabuto would not be pleased with this. The prototype Chakra armor proved somewhat successful, but the system relied on nearby Shinobi to draw power from. And she had so generously given some of her Chakra as needed. But the minds of these people could not handle it, their minds degraded from trying to channel the Chakra and molding it.

"Useless wretches." she whispered before leaving the surveillance room, fixing her cold stare on those subordinates of hers. "All of you, move to the main chamber, kill the intruders at once."

Tayuya turned towards the captured Volus billionaire Kumun Shol. She pulled out a knife and held it close to his face.. "Now you will tell me where you hid the artifact!" she asked.. her translator smoothly conveying what she said in his species language.

Kumun Shol's facial expression was impossible to read though, because of the environmental suit which the Volus usually wore outside their habitats. Tayuya could not help but feel disgusted with the creature. He tried to respond, but his his words turned out to be gibberish, trembling with trepidation at her hostile advances.

"Tell me now, or I will cut your suit open and leave you to die while I turn this place inside out." she told him harshly.

He slowly looked up at the girl, into her cold eyes. She could practically smell his fear. It would only a matter of time before he'll spill the beans.

* * *

As Shepard and his team entered the storage halls, he noticed that the strange illusions had let up.. They walking across the place in which the most recent battles took place. The floor covered with bodies of many mercenaries... composed of Humans, Asari, Batarians and Krogan. Even a few Vorcha. They could also see the emblems of several mercenary groups.. and among those again they found a few Cerberus Commandos.

But ultimately the peace vanished as the team got into a heated firefight with a dozen or more Commandos. Streams of gunfire and biotics crisscrossed the halls as combatants of both groups fought across the storage chamber.

Garrus pulled out his shotgun and gutted the closest enemy, and subsequently rammed into the one that came around the next corner before delivering the coup de grâce. A few others tried to flank him, but was crushed by a number of crates flying into them, courtesy of Samara.

Shepard and Miranda fought back to back as they responded to the rain of gunfire in kind. Watching a few bodies tumble and fall as a result Miranda threw another opponent with her biotics before the fighting receded. The remaining Commandos realized their disadvantage and retreated, all while Shepard's team moved after them in pursuit.

However, a lone figure appeared in front. A hand flexed through the dark, grabbing the Commando furthest to the front by his throat, a sickening crack was heard as she crushed his windpipe and discarded his corpse to the floor before the others. "Fight, or you will die by my hand!" Tayuya growled threateningly.

Normally there would be protests to such an order.. but the Commandos had come to greatly fear the Kalinin that the Illusive man had sent to lead them. With some reluctance to consider their limited options, they turned and charged back to fight.

The girl sneered before sinking back into the shadows. And soon, music once again penetrated the desperate gunfight that forcefully commenced.

The following gunfight lasted for five full minutes as the remaining Cerberus troops fought harder than before to beat their adversary, but were slowly being whittled down by relentless advance of Shepard and his team, cleanly reducing the numbers of their enemy with great efficiency as the fight eventually degraded into a quiet search and destroy as the groups scattered and individually began hunting each other. A silence that was occasionally punctuated by gunshots and the resulting cry of pain as the bullets struck a target.

Shepard followed a narrow corridor, towers of crates on both sides... the music continued still, and it was as though the area before his eyes got hazy, blurred. And then everything suddenly became clear as a voice cried out to him from behind.. unnaturally loud, partially synthetic. The Commander turned around and he gasped in shock at what he saw.

Tali appeared, limping towards him, one of her legs broken, patches of her armor torn off and the exposed skin severely burned, part of her visor cracked open.. a pale lidless eye stared back at him ... then he noticed that her head hanging in a sickening angle... as if her neck had been broken. Shepard stared as horror overcame him.. "W-what happened- what are you doing here?" he managed to ask, his voice shaking.

Tali raised a hand, claws suddenly piercing the fabric of her glove as she bolted in motion towards him, producing a scream of agony that Shepard thought no throat could possibly produce. He fell away from the maddened Quarian.

"Shepard!" a strike came down upside his head and sent him to the floor, his view suddenly filled with Miranda as she shot at a Commando that popped out of cover to shoot at them.

"Miranda look ou-!" he began to shout, jumping up to shove Miranda out of the way of Tali's path, only to see the Quarian gone. With that realization, the Commander collapsed onto his knees, clutching his head as beads of sweat trailed down his face.

An illusion. He wondered how the Turian upstairs made such a big deal about the alleged illusions.. But now he had seen it first-hand. It was more terrible than he could have imagined.

"Commander. What is it?" Garrus shook the Commander.

"N-nothing..." Shepard whispered as he clumsily got back on his feet as he fought off the shock. "Just an illusion." he hauntingly stared into the empty space where he saw Tali for a moment before he turned away.. "Let's go."

It was Shepard's first encounter with the third of the basic arts of the Shinobi; Genjutsu.

* * *

The team continued their search through the storage halls, devoid of life, finding the occasional corpse. They found Kumun Shol eventually... alive, but so terribly affected by recent events that they had little choice but to leave him... but with the promise that they will get him out of here the moment their work here finish.

The music continued, and elicited the occasional gasps from the group. The illusions made the team members edgy to say the least.

Eventually, they found a large open space devoid of cargo.. only a pedestal could be seen, on which a tablet stood... but their attention were quickly drawn upon the girl gazing down at it. Shepard blinked, how did they miss her standing there?

"So this is what Lord Kabuto wanted?" she asked herself with some sign of amusement as she half turned around to face the group whom stood before her, arraying their weapons against her.

"Did you enjoy your nightmares?"

The grips around their weapons tightened.

"Thought so." the girl sounded amused.

"Put your hands on the floor, now!" Shepard demanded, his voice utterly cold as he regarded the young girl.

"Alright." she fished up an odd looking tag as she went down on her knees.. "Hands on the floor, huh?"

Shepard realized his mistake.. "Stand back u-"

"Too late. Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

All four opened fire in unison.. rare Kalinin be damned, this girl had proved herself to be too damned dangerous. However, their bullets did not strike flesh. Instead hitting wooden coffins that had suddenly erupted from the ground between them.

"Such a chance only comes once in a lifetime. Lord Kabuto prepared these especially for you guys! Edo Tensei!" the coffins opened, and the lids clattered to the floor. "Have fun, hahaha!" she laughed in a wicked manner as she made several more hand signs and vanished... along with the tablet.

Shepard and the others stood puzzled at what seemed like an odd scene at the coffins until hands suddenly appeared from the dark, clutching at the sides of the wooden containers... The beings within revealing themselves in short order.

Shepard and Garrus gasped, their eyes wide open with a mix of terror and surprise. Beholding the impossible. Samara seemed perplexed and Miranda, utterly shocked. Three of four recognized those standing before them, the fourth... began to realize.

Kaidan Kalenko.

Saren Arterius.


	17. Chapter 17

A sigh erupted, breaking the silent moment into a thousand pieces.

"Something tells me this isn't the after life." Kaidan spoke in confusion, though he seemed rather indifferent to the fact that Saren stood right next to him.

"It isn't." Saren responded harshly.. he tried to move, but could only groan as if in pain. "So this is my fate, even after I died, I'm still being controlled. Eh, Shepard?" he regarded the Human Spectre.

"This can't be possible, you two died.. even your bodies were destroyed." Shepard responded, he could hardly believe that this is actually happening.

"Despite the displeasure, Shepard. I relish the chance for a re-match." the Turian responded as he suddenly crouched into a combat stance.. followed by Kaidan in turn.

"W-what? I can't control my body.." Kaidan whispered in horror.

The two suddenly rushed towards the group, their fists raised... an eerily silent time that seemed to stretch on for an eternity as Shepard and the others struggled on whether or not to shoot. But the answer to that could not have been anymore obvious.

The group opened fire in unison.. the bullets striking Kaidan were few, only aimed at the limbs. While the majority clashed all over Saren's form, splitting much of his body into a cloud of ashes.

Kaidan stood there... utterly unfazed by the gunfire that attempted to tear him into shreds. A deep chuckle could be heard as the ashes from Saren's body stopped scattering and hovered back as if having started rewinding a movie. The gaping wounds closed and he recovered without a scratch, ready to resume his charge. Kaidan recovered with similar results.

"Goddess, what are they?" Samara blurted out in surprise.. never in her long life had she witnessed such an phenomenon, as if nature both rejected the two and forbade them from dying.

"Whatever they are, I believe we should leave.. right now!" Miranda began to step away when the lights of the storage rooms suddenly dimmed.

"Agreed!" Garrus seconded, he fired a second volley directly at Saren's head.. much more than the target would have usually required.. the head seemingly evaporating under the hail... only to reassemble.

"I can't control my actions, Shepard. Run!" Kaidan cried out as he advanced enough, the body this time dispersing and reassembling .. seemingly ignoring the desperate gunfire from Miranda.

That let the gravity of their situation sink in, and so they ran. They ran with all their might while Kaidan and Saren pursued them.

Kumun Shol stumbled towards the group as they came back, as if running from something terrible. "Did you deal with them?" he managed to stutter.. only to be picked up by Garrus, who did not even break his pace.

"Ye-ah! We won, we are just retracing our steps in a hurry!" Garrus made his sarcastic response... but sarcasm seemed lost on the traumatized Volus.

* * *

He blinked, the sky looked pure white... pristine. He looked down to see a flesh-like cocoon having enveloped him. Since when?

Thrashing for a moment, he managed to rip through the fragile binds and stood up.. briefly stopping just to brush off his clothes and tried to reach for a cigar in an absent-minded manner. How did he get here?

Ah, yes.

His mind was invaded by something outside, he had blacked out and since had been wandering. Sleeping occasionally, and each time he woke back up with a similarly fleshy cocoon around him.

The Illusive man had learned much since he came here. In the distance, he could see a small circular area covered by the dark. But the moment he eventually stepped into it, the light and darkness in his environment became inverted.

He guessed he could call this a dream scape of some kind. A place shared between his and the mind of whoever captured him. What was his name? Kabuto.

Crouching down, he examined what's at the forefront of the Kalinin's mind at the moment. Memories of his old master; Orochimaru... who's flesh he integrated into himself.

Memories of his many subjects, and experiments. Most prominent lately being a young girl... and a grown man. The former did not get a control chip implanted for whatever reason.

Trust? Loyalty?

A villain greater than Kabuto. An immortal according to what Kabuto's memories could tell. Fascinating. The being, Madara, stood with an object of note behind him.. but it was closed in shadows. A plan of great importance?

And a tablet. He could not read the language of the Kalinin. But he simply had to refer to what the memories of his foe contained; End to a cycle, Void Demons.

Reapers? Possibly.

A plan should be around here somewhere. It should be here... maybe Kabuto concealed it from him. But what he could gleam from it, he vehemently disliked. But he bid his time... if this is a plan that could be brought to harm Humanity. Then he had to know for sure. If nothing else, the Illusive man believed this situation could benefit him greatly if he played his cards right, however few they are.

* * *

The group had gotten to Zeus station... Kabuto returned to his office with a measure of haste, Zetsu deciding to follow, to keep an eye on him, while Madara stayed behind to assess the facility... Bachtein offered to show him about.

"Having a problem?" Zetsu asked Kabuto as he clutched his head.

The man chuckled.. "Plenty, I must admit. Understand me, this was a bold move.. even for me. An act of desperation that provided some rewards.. but also it's share of pain."

Zetsu arced his singularly visible eyebrow.

"I did not think that those beyond our world were devoid of Chakra. I wrongfully believed they possessed a Chakra pathway system of some sort. But these Humans have none. Not the other races either. I have to rely on Darui to channel Chakra into me... even just to allow me to use basic ninjutsu."

"Just a shadow of your former self?" Zetsu asked with a hint of amusement. A common tale in certain circles.

Kabuto groaned. "Less than a pale shadow to be blunt." - "I'll tell you this.. Cerberus is only a means to an end. I will only stay as long as it takes for me to acquire what I need. Then I will return to my old body."

"I see. Temporary? Why did you go out of your way to test the Chakra armor these aliens have managed to produce?"

Kabuto didn't answer for a moment... "Anything else? I need to suppress the Illusive man again before he gains further insight. Too much and he'll become a dangerous enemy."

"Enemy he will be anyway."

Kabuto nodded.

"... And how are you supposed to get your body back?"

"Same way Cerberus have collected bodies so far. I've gotten the scientist named Elena Ferrance to search the Land of Sound. Around where my body died."

"She suspect anything being amiss?"

"No. She's such a loyal little girl she did not question the order I gave her."

Zetsu chuckled.. "Sounds like back when you was Orochimaru's servant."

"Ah, shut up." Kabuto groaned at the slight.

* * *

Shepard rushed out of the storage along with his comrades.. only to see that the elevator had risen all the way back up. "We must delay them! Block the entrance!"

Samara and Miranda did so quickly, deploying a mix of singularities and biotic pulls to drag a great number of crates to the entrance.

Shepard rushed to the control panel to the lift and called it down. Watching as the contraption lurched downwards slowly.. some haunting music could be heard coming from above. "Ignore that sound, how's it going over there?"

Kaidan and Saren had rushed in amongst the great number of crates that currently careened into place... a motion which was drastically sped up as Samara made the singularity go wild, crushing the opponents under several tons worth of crates.. shaking the entire area in the process as the kinetic force transferred to the base around the impact. The Volus fell to the ground and clumsily rolled away from Garrus, who apologized as he gave chase.

"That must have done them in, right?" Miranda asked with concern. An uncomfortable silence descending upon the base.

"I think s-" the voice died in his throat as an arm burst out from the chaos before them. Clutching to whatever object it could grasp before pulling a smashed body and a small ocean of ash from the heap. Followed in turn by the other body. Saren began to rise from the first.

"This isn't nearly over!" The Turian uttered as if unaffected by the sheer trauma inflicted upon him.

"W-what are you waiting for?" Kaidan shouted.. "Get away from here!" he suddenly charged up a biotic pull, discharging it in the general direction of Samara.. the Justicar did the same in retaliation.. resulting in both combatants being thrown off their feet as their biotics collided.

"Impressive." Samara mouthed as she regained her footing. Stepping aside just as Saren found a gun amongst the many corpses of the mercenaries in the base. Nothing less than an M-6 Carnifex. Making a seemingly invincible adversary even more dangerous as he opened fire.

Garrus handed Kumun Shol over to Miranda, who made a quick beeline for the lift as it steadily approached them.

The rest opened fire, the otherwise now quiet chamber filled with the discharge of a shotgun, an assault rifle and a heavy pistol, all firing solutions with incendiary ammunition mixed in. Saren burst into pieces as the hailstorm struck him before he could fire another shot... an effort made futile as the body once again reassembled and caught the gun, pulling the trigger and hammered the kinetic barrier of Shepard's suit. The Commander quickly rerouted energy to reinforce it, lest it break.

The gunfight was interrupted again once Kaidan managed to use a biotic throw to send Garrus flying.

They were getting closer. Shepard threw a grenade into close proximity of both the pursuing enemies.. causing both bodies to disperse briefly as the grenade exploded. At which point Samara used Reave against Kaidan. All sense would dictate that such a biotic power would have been useless, but it actually caused the reformation to slow down.

A weak spot!

"Keep firing, make sure they can't advance!"

"Sir, my barrier won't hold for much longer!" Garrus shouted while Saren commenced firing at him.. the shield nearing collapse. Kaidan tried to enter a biotic duel even though he had not fully assembled yet. But no matter how much ammunition they used... if they shot the legs, the body would crawl forward by it's arms. If arms, then it would keep walking.. and pick up the weapon again. Shepard and the rest were merely buying for time at this rate.

After what seemed like an eternity, the lift touched the floor and the group rushed on board. Garrus had sustained a gun wound to his arm before Shepard had successfully drawn Saren's fire. Miranda rushed to the panel and hammered the "up" button. Feeling a rush of relief as the lift ascended.

Kaidan and Saren continued to fire even as the lift went on above them.

"We should be fine now." Shepard said while he went to support Garrus. Suddenly the dimmed lights of the compound began to flare red.

"Warning, self-destruct sequence initiated!" the automated system announced.

"What?" Miranda gasped in exasperation. On Shepard's side... nothing seemed to surprise him anymore. This is at least something they could handle unlike... the nightmarish illusion of Tali he got earlier. An involuntary shudder shot down his spine.

Once they reached the top, they all ran as one.. except Kumun Shol whom Miranda ended up having to drag along, because his legs are too short to keep up with the others.

"Three minutes remaining." the system announced.

They ran harder at that. There wasn't any time left for sight seeing, they took the most direct route possible through the winding corridor. Only stopping when the floor ahead suddenly burst open. Saren emerging from the hole, glowering angrily at the group before them. Following closely by Kaidan. The living dead seemed utterly unconcerned with the base being close to detonating. Them being dead and being capable of surviving almost any kind of damage probably attributed to that lack of concern.

"Charge through them." Samara suggested.. an idea that no one found any reason to argue. Kaidan and Saren blocking the only way out.

"One minute, thirty seconds remaining."

Shepard, Garrus and Samara equipped their shotguns.. Miranda placed herself behind the rest, being forced to tow the Volus along.

Six heavy blasts followed, bathing the targets in a storm of pellets that made a complete mess out of their targets.. the bodies going limp to the floor for a moment before starting to recover again. The group jumped across the gap and kept going. Samara lagged behind just to use her Biotic Reave on them before greatly increasing her pace to catch up with the others.

"Shepard!" Saren's uttered, an enraged voice akin to that of a demon as Shepard and the rest cycled themselves through the outer sequences of doors before they could finally get out of the compound and raced for the Kodiak.

"Five seconds remaining."

The Kodiak took off once everyone got on board, aligning it's mass effect fields before blasting off into the distance at full speed before the installation detonated, a dome of fire erupting from the complex and consumed the surrounding area.

"We got away..." Garrus sighed with relief as he let himself collapse onto the seat, clutching his wound. "Did we fail?"

"I don't know... but maybe the Volus can tell us what Cerberus wanted in this place." Shepard thought about the tablet which the girl took away. He gazed down at Kumun Shol, so exhausted from this hectic day that he had lost consciousness the moment they got into the shuttle, snoring soundly.

"You think they're gone now? I mean, Kaidan... and Saren." the Turian gravely asked. "Just what did that girl... or the Kabuto fellow she mentioned... do to them?"

"I pray their gone. But as for Kabuto. I have no idea. Maybe we should try to find Nagato and the others. They have got to know... this situation just got bigger."

* * *

Down on the planet's surface, Tayuya had watched as the base blew up, while Shepard's Kodiak vanishing into the distance above. With a growl she paced away from the spot she escaped to.. hefting the tablet onto her back as she approached the rubble.. all that remained of the main compound on this planet.

She kicked a rock.. "Are you going to lie there all day, you ash-buckets?"

The rubble parted before her, as if answering. Both of the beings standing there as if under intense scrutiny. The girl made a hand sign, and the two were confined by the sudden appearance of the very same coffins that were used to deploy them.

"Pilot, get down here on the double." She ordered through her communicator.. watching as the transport craft appeared in the distance and descended towards her. "We got the goods."

* * *

The body shuddered. Kabuto had fallen asleep, having previously gone to the special suite waiting for him. But once the body descended into deep sleep, it suddenly got back up again.

The Illusive man allowed himself a grin.. He found a tiny loophole in Kabuto's possession of him. Without a Chakra pathway system, his hold over the body weakened while he slept.

Good.

It would not take long for Kabuto to start noticing enough to wake up... so the Illusive man used what little time he managed to steal for himself well. Calling for Elena Ferrance to give a message of his own. Security measures for when Kabuto finally leaves his body.

If all went well, he'll have the final laugh.


	18. Chapter 18

"He's in no condition. He's suffering from considerable trauma... mister Kumun Shol needs rest, not an interrogation." Chakwas snapped back at the Commander. Shepard wanted a talk with Kumun to learn of the artifact he had found, but the Doctor left him little choice but to accept the current situation for the time being.

He gradually looked to Garrus, whom sat on the closest bed, his wounded arm tended to and bandaged. And then towards the Volus on the other side of the room, lightly whimpering from what sounded like a nightmare.

Shepard quickly came face to face with Chakwas again, finding himself having walked towards the Volus without realizing it. The Medical officer wasn't pleased at all.

Taking the hint, Shepard turned and left the room while rubbing his temples.

A prime source of information nearby and the subject could not tell them anything lest he invoke the memories of the most recent terrible events.

He thought briefly back when they got back on the Normandy.. Chakwas had ushered Garrus and the Volus into the infirmary almost immediately upon arrival. Samara appeared to have gotten quite shaken from the recent experience, returning to the observation deck in which she spent most of her time to meditate and to pray. It was no simple situation to suddenly witness the walking dead.

Miranda returned to her office and are currently trying to open communications with her contacts. Not an easy thing to do at all. Even less trying to find someone she could trust. After what happened down planet-side, Miranda believed that the whole thing was partly an elaborate trap. Especially as the Kalinin down there deployed a weapon with himself and his crew in mind.

And Tali... whom had rushed down to the hangar upon hearing of the violent case of their departure. Heck, somehow he ended up embracing her out of the blue before he snapped out of it and apologized before going on his way. Not knowing that the Quarian was in fact quite pleasantly surprised by the gesture... if confused at that.

The Commander went to sit at the cafeteria to have a moment of peace to think... though in hindsight, that was a mistake since it's already occupied by Thane and Grunt, whom both are playing a game resembling chess. The latter losing horribly. Shepard found the strength to sit down with them.

"Ah, Shepard. Care for a match?" Thane asked.

"I don't think I'm up for it at the moment."

"Heard you guys had it rough down there.. found yourselves some undead that could not die." Grunt asked, almost sounding like a kid who just missed the chance of buying himself a candy bar.

Shepard shook his head as he thought about the mission again.. "Worse than that, Kaidan. Whom died on Virmire in the middle of a nuclear explosion. And Saren... whom shot himself in the head and was burned to ashes by Sovereign on the Citadel. Down there. We saw them, as if they had come back to life, yet existing as naught but dead flesh and ashes. We're dealing with a ruthless adversary here."

"Sounds fun to me."

"What will be our next course of action?" Thane asked.

Shepard shrugged. "The way things are going, I would like to find a way to come in contact with Nagato and the others. Since Cerberus got some in their employ... if forcefully. We need all the help we can get."

A sigh.

"And the only way we'll be able to find them is through this card..." the Commander fished up the featureless card, which Nagato had given him prior to their departure. He looked it over, but there's nothing on it, just a completely blank surface on either side. "There must be some trick to it." Shepard slapped the card down on the table in an act of frustration. Thane played his next move on the game, the Krogan with a growl slammed his fist into the table, toppling a nearby glass of water and spilled it's contents across the table.

"Lose gracefully, uncouth brute." Thane berated the Krogan in an amused manner.

The Krogan caught himself.. "You saw nothing at all." Grunt protested, waving his hand as if trying to invoke the force. The Krogan had already seen lots of Human movies, including the ancient Star Wars. Thane merely chuckled, shaking his head.. Shepard also laughed at the gesture until he looked down upon the table and got his laugh stuck in his throat.

The card had gotten wet from the spilled drink, and it's not featureless anymore. It now sported a blue mark on the right side of it. A Kalinin would identify it as the sign for Water. Which was also the emblem of the Land of Water.

Shepard got curious at this sudden development, the other two peered over at the card in turn.

"That's a surprise." Thane noted simply.

"I'd say." Grunt seconded.

Shepard continued to gaze at the card, eventually picking it up and swiped away the water... but the mark remained there. "Maybe this is the trick. Like a puzzle of some kind." he examined it closely. "I'll have to take it to Mordin." he stood up to leave. The other two, curious at this discovery, tagged along.

* * *

"Commander. Fascinating discovery you made. Disgusting of course. But still..." Mordin greeted him the moment Shepard entered, along with the others. Perhaps referring to the event down on the Klencory.

"Yeah, fascinating." Shepard began dryly. "But this one I need you to look at. This card was featureless until Grunt spilled some water on it, at which point this mark appeared. Any idea how to proceed based on that information? The card's supposed to tell us how to get in contact with them again, and I believe it to be a part of a riddle that we need to solve first."

Mordin accepted the card and analyzed it quickly, thinking hard about how to proceed, but soon perked up. "One theory. Reacting to elemental properties." he whispered quickly before taking a deep breath and blew on the card which he laid down on his palm. At first there seemed to be no reaction, but then a mark appeared next to the existing mark.. Wind.

"Interesting." Thane whispered, he reached into his pocket and quickly produced a lighter and fired it up, bringing it closer to the card. Mordin helped by holding carefully at either end by the finger tips over the fire. The card heated for a few moments, and then another mark appeared; Fire.

Mordin placed the card down on the table next and moved to procure a small pile of minerals.. not having anything else that qualified at the moment. The Salarian placed the minerals gingerly onto the card.. all four watching intently as eventually a fourth symbol appeared; Earth.

Everyone watched more closely, as if expecting a further reaction.. but nothing appeared.

"You think they got some more elements we don't?" Thane asked out of curiosity.

"Chakra?" Grunt guessed.

"No, no. It must be something that we can access or else giving us this would have been meaningless." Shepard responded with a hint of doubt.

"Gravity?"

"No. It would have already gone off by now if that was the case."

Shepard realized that unless they could solve this problem, they'd never be able to contact the Kalinin, and much less find them.

Mordin went back to his computer, starting to type at a rapid pace. "No choice. Got to check extra-net."

"Just how will that help? There's almost no information about the Kalinin in there as it is." Shepard asked.

The Salarian shrugged. "Making a list. Religion's, various belief system's." he exhaled.. "Might provide ideas concerning elements we haven't considered."

Everyone else watched him work.. until Shepard slowly nodded. "Alright, call me when you got a full comprehensive list."

"Will do, Commander."

* * *

Back in the Zeus station in the Armstrong Nebula, Tayuya had just brought the tablet before Kabuto, whom quickly accepted the object.

From a distance, Madara and Zetsu watched, seemingly intrigued.

"I was right after all." Kabuto chuckled triumphantly as he addressed Madara.

Madara stood quietly, regarding the tablet before he turned to the enthusiastic Kabuto. "What does it say?"

"The tablets display a message when combined far as I can guess. If the impression on each tablet gathered so far is of any indication, there may only be one more we need to collect to make sense out of all of it." Kabuto described his little theory before he continued. "Most of the message will remain unintelligible until we gather the artifacts together. But the scripture in the middle of the tablets are written in our language. So I am certain that whatever message they contain, it's meant for our species."

"And it says?" Zetsu asked, rather impatiently at that.

Kabuto looked closer at the scripture. "Weapon most supreme, forged from will and power, and the husks of the void." A pause... "-Is what it says."

"Any idea of what it means?" Zetsu asked, confused. But Madara chuckled. "What is it?"

"Will and power... may it be referring to the Jubi?"

Kabuto tilted his head. "Don't know. But it's possible. We need all the tablets to get the full message. Once we have that, we'll have the answer." He turned to Tayuya.. "Good job.. was there any trouble in retrieving the artifact?"

The girl gave a light shudder .. "Those under my command, died. That Human, Shepard, came along with a squad."

"And you deployed the Edo Tensei I so generously offered you?"

"Of course, unfortunately Shepard managed to escape." Tayuya continued, lowering her head shamefully.

"No need to feel bitter. I expected him to succeed in his escape. The Edo Tensei was meant as a test."

"A test?"

"Indeed. He's the man whom killed a Void Demon. I wanted to see if he's truly as capable as everything Cerberus got on him says. And by your words indication, he passed it with stellar grades."

"I understand."

"Good. Now..." he regarded everyone present.. "I need you guys leave the room? I need to make a few calls to prioritize all search for any signs of the final tablet."

* * *

Very distant from either groups in midst of their preparations for the future. Deep within the Terminus Systems, at the place which carried many names: The heart of evil, to the Asari. The place of secrets, to the Salarians. The world without law, to the Turians. Land of opportunity to the Krogan.

But most people knows the gargantuan dark counterpart of the Citadel best as Omega.

Along it's many docks, there's currently one particular ship of note present. A Hensa class cruiser, a ship class which the Batarians decommissioned in favor of newer ships. The old ones were either wrecked or sold to private interests.

This particular ship was originally crewed by a group of pirates and slavers. Batarians of the worst sort. But none of them lived anymore, they descended upon a lone ship in deep space called the MSV Garden with the intent of looting it and enslaving those on board.

Now, the crew consist entirely of Kalinin. They stripped their former ship of everything useful and took the Hensa as their own. Ever since, they had been traveling about, refurbishing the interior of the ship into a vague image of their home world to feel more at home.

It took more than a week to learn the fundamental information needed to operate the ship and to maintain it. An intense period of studying the vessel before driving further into the void of space.

Hidan and Kisame had taken the jobs as mechanics, their duties mostly composed of keeping an eye on the engine room and make sure everything runs smooth. As well as some of the heavier labor.

Onoki found himself in the comfortable position as Captain, of sorts. Since he could not really do much of the labor himself due to his advanced age.

Shikamaru remained as the pilot, though also because of his considerable intellect, he also acquired the job of being an adviser. Around him, Nagato's six Paths serves as techs on the bridge while Nagato himself spent most of the time doing information gathering from the extra-net.

Mei, Konan and Hinata often took shifts when it came to cooking, since they are the only ones competent at that.

Kisame tried his hand at it... resulting in everyone losing their appetite very quickly as they watched Hidan trying to violently wrench his stomach out of his throat because of the abomination of meal that the other missing-nin referred to as stew.

Tenten mostly took care of the armory. She lamented over the short supply of ninja tools. She want to acquire the tools to do some old fashioned forging to get the amount of such tools back up. Otherwise there are quite a few guns which were previously used by the former occupants of the ship. Though the quality of the weapons seemed to be very poor. But further lamentable was the fact the weapons she previously acquired on Illium remained on the Normandy.

Otherwise when some of the crew did not have any duties, they did whatever needed doing regardless of it's importance or lack thereof. Naruto and Kurotsuchi found themselves doing that a lot, along with Hinata and Tenten at times.

Several of them got their own rooms in which to sleep. However, a few of the rooms received two beds for assigned couples. Just to encourage closeness... and eventual hopeful mating.

Naruto and Hinata shared a room, as did Tenten and Shikamaru. Kurotsuchi shared a room with Hidan... much to Onoki's chagrin, even worse for the old man it got when the rumor circulated that those two have already gotten romantically involved and done their part. He kept worrying about his grand daughter, considering the fact that her apparent love interest are a Jashinist.

Nagato and Konan shared a room also. But the former remained on a diet... the latter wanting him to gain just a few more pounds. Nagato felt himself get noticeably more bothered as time dragged on.

Mei Terumi however got no assigned mate yet, but they had the talk that Konan maybe have to share Nagato with her. He however hoped that she would get paired up with Kisame instead. After all, he was getting bothered enough by having the lover of their common long dead friend as a mate.

They changed the name of the ship soon after arriving at the docks of Omega. Removing the former label from the side of the ship and replacing it with a name written in their own language. Probably to the confusion of alien workers present.

They decided on the name 'Lance of the Six Paths' in honor of the ancient Sage that saved their world back when it was at the mercy of the Jubi. The ship being their current home, protector and believing that it will lead them to peace and eventually a new world for themselves and future generations.

However, the main reason they anchored at Omega was not to rename their ship, but to re-supply. And most beings in there did not know about most of the stuff happening in the other side of the galaxy, and even less cared to know.

"Are you sure that we need to come along?" Kisame just had to ask the teens.

"Ain't it obvious? There are criminals, mercenaries and other bad guys everywhere on this station. So with just us alone, it's begging for trouble." Naruto responded.

Kisame cast a sidelong glance at a few Batarians which gazes drifted towards Naruto and Hinata.. as if considering a quick slave grab. The missing-nin growled at them, and they were quick to vacate the area. "Point taken."

"May I sacrifice some of these fuckers? My sacrifices in the name of Jashin are way overdue." Hidan yawned as he stared in the same way as his colleague at those passing by.

"Only if they attack." Kisame snorted. "But keep it short."

"Gee, it's as if Kakuzu is haunting me. The bastard."

Five more minutes later, Hinata tried to bargain with a salesman for some of the equipment he got for sale.. but every time she pointed at an item, he'd find a reason to raise the prize until it became far too expensive to buy. It nearly got to be point that the girl became annoyed, her Byakugan activating slowly as her temper flared up.

"That's way too expensive! You just-" Naruto chimed in.

"You ain't running a business, pal. Get lost if you ain't got the dime to pay for it all." the shop owner stated in a rude manner, they started getting the impression that Batarians are nothing but a race of bastards.

"How about I-" Kisame offered as he began reaching for the Samehada.

"N-no, Kisame. We are not here to fight!" Hinata turned in a hurry, regaining her composure.

And just for the sheer hell of it, since the man felt pretty safe... especially since he got some hired muscle in the store room in case trouble started brewing. He reached forward to her lovely little behind.

"Touch and you'll find yourself with one arm less." Hinata stated in a mildly threatening manner. The Batarian quickly withdrew his hand, wondering if the girl got eyes on the back of her head.

The group of Kalinin left the store in relatively short order as they discussed. "So the fact of the matter is... we don't have enough credits? Fuck." Hidan groaned.

"Essentially, yes." Hinata replied.

Naruto thought about it for a moment.. "Try another store?"

"If we don't have enough credits, why not get some more?" Kisame asked.

Hidan grimaced... "How?"

"Look at that." Kisame pointed out a commercial flashing over the wall not far away. 'Tag team battle royal' .. The amount of credits offered for the winners being nothing short of immense. People wanting to join in need to go see the one organizing the event; Aria T'Loak, according to the commercial.

"I don't think I've ever seen such a huge number." Naruto mindbogglingly whispered.

"Y-you sure about this, Kisame?" Hinata asked nervously.

"Yeah, of course." Kisame chuckled.. "We'll mop up the competition and claim the prize. You with me, Hidan?"

"Heh, why not? I could use a bit of a working out after days of only tackling an engine." the other missing-nin responded with a smirk.

And thus it was decided. The teens weren't sure about it being a wise choice. But the grown ups were already too fired up to listen.. so they had little choice but to tag along, hoping to keep them from going too far.

* * *

Meanwhile, on a distant world. It's atmosphere dark, twilight reigned. The world only seeing the light provided by the presence by it's very distant star.

The planet appeared to be inhabited, but not many lived there. The only reason to live there being it's incredibly rich resources, and in one of the mining sites... a mining crew worked into the soil in the presence of ancient ruins which had been built in times so distant that the workers could only guess.

The mining ops went just fine. The excavator repeatedly struck it's massive shovel into the ground to remove dirt, to reach the ore vein further below them, but suddenly mid-scoop, it ground to a grinding halt as it met a solid surface that even the massive power output of the excavator could not handle.

The crews flocked around the area as the operator had shovel pulled back. Letting the other miners come closer to investigate. Upon closer inspection, they found that the shovel had hit a construct made, amazingly enough, by a sort of unknown alloy. They quickly dug up more of it until was discovered that the construct wasn't a building. But an altar. And at the very top of it, a tablet stood alone, glowing an ethereal blue. The beings approached it... one stepped forward and scanned it. Detecting some sort of organic material within the artifact that generated a sort of energy they could not recognize.

And in the middle of the tablet, clear writing glowed slightly, an alien text that none of them understood. But which a Kalinin would have easily understood.

'No half-measures will suffice, nor be accepted. Annihilate the enemy, and all that hurts you.'


	19. Chapter 19

"You sure it's here?" Hinata managed to gasp as she and Naruto followed the older Shinobi into the Afterlife club. Passing through it gave them a bad feeling. All the strange lights, questionable clientele, and skimpily clad dancers. Not to mention the foul smell the place seemed to practically radiate.

Kisame gave a shrug.. "This is where that Aria T'Loak spend much of her time according to the locals." ... "Just stay close to us, and you'll be fine."

Naruto could not help but chuckle. Before the war with the Geth, they and the Akatsuki were sworn enemies. But that completely changed after the war started. "Alright. But it does not look like a place for us two."

"As I said, stay close. If someone asks, tell them you're eighteen." Kisame told him with another shrug.

The teens nodded, they unlike the two up front were more cautious of their immediate surrounding. Although neither Hidan nor Kisame behaved carelessly. The patrons within the club shot them glares that varied all the way from indifference to outright hostility, but no one went any further than that.

Hinata felt steadily more and more out of place as they passed through the second door, entering the main chamber of the club. It seemed to consist of three floors, and featured a large circular bar in the center of the room with women, particularly Asari, dancing on top. The music which sounded dull from the outside now felt outright ear-breaking. An odd rhythm filling the air around them. Naruto got the impression that it's so loud that he could not even hear himself think.

"Hey, where the hell can we find Aria?" Hidan asked a passing Human, whom pointed out Omega's ruler's private lounge at the back of the chamber, with a great number of armed guards. "Looks promising."

"Yeah, no shit." Kisame snickered as they approached the guards, one of them turning to stop the group from advancing up the stairs that led to the lounge.

"Hey, what's your business here?" The guard asked of them. Another Batarian, great.

Kisame tilted his head to the side.. "Me and him are interested in joining the fighting event Aria's arranging. All the ads told us to contact her, as you may well be aware."

The guard seemed ready to tell them to leave if not for a voice that came from further up... "Search them."

The guard grumbled inaudibly as he brought out a scanning device and began to examine the newcomers. The Shinobi handed their weapons over to the teens, or in the case of Samehada was simply placed against the closest available wall, a few on-lookers stared at what's going on curiously, especially at the Samehada which seemed to be twitching. The Batarian scanned them quickly, and not being able to identify any weapon far as they knew. "Their clean." the guard huffed.

The response came promptly.. "Send them in."

"Come on, Hidan." Kisame whispered and they walked past the guard and up the stairs until they found themselves standing before Omega's ruler herself. An Asari whom seemed to analyze them from her bench.

"Ho. I must admit, you look quite different from the regular ones who have come to participate so far. A new species even." Aria spoke... her eyes locked with that of Kisame. "Bar a few Krogan, you happen to seem the most physically able, so I allow your entry without a test upfront."

"That's all?" Hidan were quick to ask, not being congenial at all, earning himself an elbow striking him from the side by the fellow missing-nin.

"That's all." Aria replied, leaning forward a little as her glare intensified.. "Don't disappoint me. That's all I'm saying."

Before anyone could say anything, she pointed out one of her guards. "Show them to the arena. Just to make sure they know the way." She turned to the men before her.. "No complaints. The match will begin in less than a day."

The next few minutes was spent in silence as the designated guide showed the group of Shinobi the way. They passed through the crowded corridors, with music continuously pounding into their ears.

* * *

"Found it."

"The final tablet?" Zetsu asked, he and Madara had just returned to Kabuto's office once he called for them.

"Yes. It has been discovered by a small mining expedition on a distant world."

Madara crossed his arms.. "Have you taken steps to retrieve it?"

"No." Kabuto responded... "It's a little bit tricky this time. The tablet's no longer on that planet, ships of the expedition took it away from there. According to the very few contacts the Illusive man have in that area of space, the ship is heading towards the largest single armada in the galaxy. The Quarian Migrant fleet."

"As long as we know the location, we can assault it." Zetsu said with a wry smile.

Kabuto shook his head.. "No, we don't know which ship will receive the tablet. There are fifty thousand ships in that fleet. And they don't allow any outsiders get close. As a whole, there are limited information. The only reason that Cerberus managed to bring about a surgical strike against them some time ago was thanks to a Quarian rogue." he explained at length, looking down at the floor in contemplation. "We have no choice but to watch and-"

"Forget it." Madara responded in a resolute manner ... "Give me troops, and a ship."

Kabuto raised his head and stared back, but the glare slackened into a nod, seeing that Madara would not let this go. "Alright, I will try to assemble a strike force."

"Do it. I will be in my quarters. Tell me once you have gathered them." Madara responded before he left the room.

Kabuto broke the resulting silence after a few seconds.. "Must admit, I was surprised."

"Can't say I am. According to the Codex, the Quarian were the ones whom created the Geth, the machines that ruined our home world." Zetsu whispered. "That qualifies them as a target, in his mind."

"Let him knock himself out then. As long as he remembers to look for the tablet and retrieve it. I got no complaints."

"..." Zetsu remained silent as he inspected his PDA, continuing to read the Galactic Codex.

Kabuto however focused on where to begin. Cerberus did not have all that much troops to begin with, and he's already stretching the quota with how many groups can operate at once. After a storm of thought, he reviewed what he have available and decided to make a call... opening a link.

Time to free up George Kullen of the Kalin 3 expedition and have him scrounge together what forces he could muster, Cerberus or not. Especially because he's much closer to the Migrant Fleet's location. He could feel free to provide Madara with a ship within the hour.

* * *

"How's it going?" Shepard asked as he returned to the lab after having waited for results for several hours. Mordin seemed rather irritated, although momentarily, while none the less appeared to be immensely fascinated by the unexpectedly complicated puzzle.

"Greetings, Commander. No result thus far." Mordin gestured towards the card. "Tried over a dozen properties." a sniff.. "No result."

"You gotten nothing more out of it?"

"Yes, of course." the Salarian produced from his data pad a scanned image of the card. "Evidence of a fifth mark is there. Deciphering it however..." he pointed out the spot on the card where it should be according to the scan. "Still eludes."

"Maybe I should come back later?" Shepard asked.

"It'd be appreciated, need room to think." Mordin responded, he did not seem to expect specific aid, doing little but to hum some old song while working, as if the difficulty of the current task kept him entertained.

Shepard promptly left.. He felt the situation's getting worse out there, no idea why... but he could not help but think that something's terrible about to happen.

* * *

It turned out to be one of the more quiet moments in the Terminus systems, the chatter of a great many went on, filling the halls of it's dark capital. The hollering of the crowds as they watched the great show occurring before them. The sight of drunkards flying through the air, the piercing noise as teeth were broken into pieces from a blunt impact.

"Hah, twenty! How are you holding up?" Hidan bawled at Kisame whom busied himself with beating the living daylight out of those nearby that tried to gang up on him. He elbowed one in the gut, pulled the arm forward and impacted his fist into the jaw of the Turian before him, watching as a broken tooth popped out of it's mouth from the impact.

"Don't bother counting them!" Kisame responded with a cough as an Asari closed the distance and kicked against the side of his ribs. "Arrgh, not bad a kick!" he grabbed her leg and threw her face down to the ground, making her lose consciousness as he stomped her head. Someone hit him from behind next, but before he could retaliate, the ambushing enemy had been slammed to the ground by a straight punch from Hidan.

"Damn, this is a crazy ass battle, man!" Hidan looked around them.. bar the number of bodies scattered on the ground around them, there appeared to be at least a hundred more elsewhere in the arena fighting, except a large number of more participants whom had been knocked out of the fight also. Both he and Kisame expected no more than maybe thirty tag teams at most the first time they saw the arena. But this is simply crazy... it's simply an unmitigated chaos. A sight to behold from the audience point of view, all which became almost downright ecstatic as the fight kept going. And it sure took some time just to get to this point, with no slowing down. Hidan and Kisame could have ended it much faster if they went go all out, but weapons were prohibited.

Aria sat in her grand seat within the hall, surrounded by guards as she watched the show. Naruto and Hinata stood further away up on the edge, a tall wall surrounding the area in which the event took place.

More reasonable people recognized this whole thing for what it truly is; Madness.

Several more tag-teams suddenly ganged up on them. They began doing it as the Shinobi kept racking up their wins. To the elation of the crowd as the men fought back intensely. Hidan pulled back an arm and decked a Batarian across the face, sending the being flying.

"So weak. There's nothing but drunkards and idiots here with almost no fighting experience." Hidan growled as he grappled his next opponent, broke the arm and threw the person at the other closest opponent, watching both land in a heap.

"Indeed. It explains why we were accepted so damn quickly. I would too if I otherwise had no choice to watch a fight with these kind of people. No fun at all." Kisame responded.. a solid punch to another Human's jaw putting a well placed punctuation to that statement.

"Fucking embarrassing." Hidan complained and got hit by a Salarian opponent.. and took a few more punches due to that species high reaction speed before Hidan managed to grab him by his throat forward and struck the aliens gut hard with his knee. "A bunch of children from a Shinobi academy would had put up a better fight than this!"

"You're being too damned generous to compare these to those children." Kisame chuckled, slamming another Asari into the ground and stepping across the body in a great speed, mowing down another with a lariat. "Would of had more fun watching these guys getting trounced by our younger comrades."

"It would not have been much of a battle then at all. They don't need weapons to fight at their fullest... they would've mopped the floor with these guys." a brief pause followed... "Huh, wait a moment. You seeing this?"

Across the fighting arena, a heavy cargo door opened, revealing a dozen or more additional combatants, primarily Krogan and Vorcha. Those at the front armed with clubs.

"What, their planning a rout?" Kisame could not help but chuckle.

"Seems that way, a big chaotic fight for a while and then move in the heavies to 'slaughter' the participants, even I can get that much." Hidan sneered.

"Let's hang back for the moment, let them spend themselves mowing down the small-fry." Kisame suggested.

Far above them, Aria observed... and she did not feel amused by this new development at all. "Hey, Kalka! What the hell are the Blood Pack doing here?"

Kalka's one of Aria's most trusted guards, a Batarian of course. The man stumbled with his words. "I don't know. There have been no words from the others downstairs of their coming."

"That means that they are all either dead, or have betrayed me." Aria mulled over the situation. "Tell the others to get the audience to leave this instant!"

Kalka watched as the Krogan and Vorcha alike began pummeling through the contestants, using much more force than the targets required... killing many in the process. A few of the Krogan were carrying guns, and more of them kept coming. "The folks won't like this though."

"Then tell them that the Blood Pack have broken in. No one is stupid enough to stick around with that pack of wretches when they let themselves loose. And if they are that stupid, leave them."

The Batarian nodded and broadcast the orders to the other guards across the arena and began forcing the audience to leaving in a hurry while a few began to shoot at the Blood Pack below, those whom were instructed beforehand to shoot down any participants found to have smuggled guns to the event. A sentiment that the new arrivals responded to in kind.

"W-what's happening?" Hinata asked as the event took a turn for the worse. The audience began to panic while the newcomers below, clad in red, started to slaughter the participants below.

"I don't think it's part of the program." Naruto as they backed away from the railing. An aura growing around his left arm, creating a Chakra arm that he used to grab the Samehada. "Take the scythe."

"Yes." Hinata nodded as she went to pick up Hidan's triple-bladed scythe, and the cable attached to it. The teens quickly followed the railing while pushing past the panicking crowd as they continued to clear out of the chamber, the Shinobi trying to get close to the missing-nins below."

"Hey, guys! Catch!" Naruto hollered once they got within throwing range.

Kisame blinked and looked over his shoulder at Naruto above. His vision quickly filled by the large frame of the Samehada as it fell straight towards him. He quickly leaned to the side and allowed the blade to fly past him until he could catch it by the haft before it could hit the ground.

Hidan was nearly impaled by the falling Scythe as Hinata threw it down to him. He caught it just barely, pulling the cable in through the arm of his cloak before turning to the advancing Blood Pack, less than a third of the participants remained, and what few remained, had scattered in all directions once it became all too clear that the Blood Pack did not stick to the rules.

One of the Krogan rammed itself through a few that stood in the way and leveled a shotgun at the two standing by the wall that had yet to budge from their spot, ready to shoot... only for the gun to be knocked out of his hands as a large knife suddenly embedded itself into the weapon..

"What." the Alien could barely respond at this unexpected surprise before the explosive tag attached to the knife's handle detonated, enveloping the Mercenary in the resulting explosion.. The explosive force shattered the weapon and sent the shielded Krogan flying backwards, crashing into several of his comrades along the way.

"Nice one, kid. Time to kick this event into overdrive." Kisame chuckled as he addressed Naruto while he and Hidan brandished their weapons fully.

Far away, Aria began to notice the unusual activity from the corner of her eyes. She turned her full attention towards the situation as it developed with interest.


	20. Chapter 20

"There they are!" One of the Blood Pack members bellowed, pointing at Kisame and the others, him in particular.

The missing-nin grimaced.. "You got me at a disadvantage here." a shrug followed.. "No matter." he lifted his massive weapon of his at them... "I will be shred you apart all the same."

"Bring them down!" the response came and several of the Krogan seemed to pulse with biotic energy. The two Kalinin rendered immobile almost immediately upon the wave of energy striking them. A moment of vertigo taking hold before they were hurled against the wall behind them. The Blood Pack charging at full speed towards them.

Hidan flailed at the biotic effects that filled the air around him.. "Aw, come on!" he growled harshly.

Kisame managed to regain partial control of his limbs and forced his palms together, managing to form a Tiger hand seal. Creating a water clone that managed to stop a Krogan trying to ram him at full speed. But being a water clone, it does not have much in the way of stopping power.

Hidan managed to array his scythe in front of him in time to impale a Vorcha that had gotten too close for comfort. "Oi, a little help here brats?"

"Just take the blame for getting us into trouble when we get back, okay?" Naruto's voice called out.

The other was about to respond in the affirmative when Naruto hollered; "Time for some crowd control! Kisame, bring the water!" the boy yelled as he summoned a pair of shadow clones before he leaped down into the arena.

"Okay!" Kisame responded as he formed the necessary hand signs... the effects from the biotic attack finally starting to wane. Setting off a tidal wave with what water he could summon at the time.

The boy held out a hand to his clones as a Wind style Rasengan formed in the palm of his hand and thrust it downwards against the newly created wave of water whilst the Blood Pack continued to approach, most brandishing shotguns, only a few still holding onto the clubs they wielded on the way in.

But too late,the mercenaries found themselves hit by a wall of water, the addition of the wind enhanced Chakra sphere into the tidal wave turning it into a hurricane, rotating so violently that it functioned as a solid barrier. Only the Krogan seemed to understand the situation, but they could not do anything about it. The violent mix of Jutsu's exploded outwards, sending the whole gang flying through the air as a direct counter-reaction to their attempt of breaking through it by force. Most scattered across the arena, greatly shaken by the experience while the water came to cover most of the area, cascading freely. A few Vorcha found themselves unfortunate enough to be crushed to death by their Krogan superiors as they landed.

When the Blood Pack members finally managed to get up and pick up what weapons they could find and regrouped. All now warily keeping an eye on the newcomers.

Naruto and Hinata stood at the front while Hidan and Kisame still appeared to be stuck against the wall, trying to fight off the remainder of the layered biotic throws.

"Okay, give up! We got you surrounded!" Naruto blurted out, eliciting some laughter from the Blood Pack before them. Most of the guards that had been trying to destroy the invading Blood Pack appeared to be long dead at this point.

"You and what army?" the Krogan leader of the gang shouted, laughing at such a ridiculous outburst.

And while they laughed, Naruto made the required hand sign. The entire area around them seemed as though it exploded within the next instant, startling the mercenaries.

The gang stopped laughing immediately as they backed themselves into a tight circle, stunned as hundreds of people identical to the boy emerged from the smoke.

"Two-hundred. Three-hundred. Goddess." the ruler of Omega quickly counted as she continued to watch, a grin appearing on her face.

The shadow clones quickly split up into groups of two each. Each group forming it's own giant Rasengan.

The Krogan and Vorcha had been so stunned by the sight that they did not noticed Hinata approaching them until her presence became too intrusive to the closest Vorcha, whom tried to lash out in anger. Only to see the visage of the girl fade, replaced by burning pain in it's shoulders, screeching in alarm as the arms fell limp.

They all focused inward at the sudden sneak attack, trying to hit the Hyuga whom darted through their rugged formation, her arms nearly a blur. It only took a few seconds before nearly fully half of the standing enemies, all Vorcha, collapsed with pain in their shoulders, their tendons cut with pinpoint precision. Gentle fist. It's not just for disrupting Chakra veins, it's also perfect to cause severe internal injuries as she shot Chakra needles through her fingertips. However, the Krogan with all their heavy armor and thick hide stood unfazed, but confused at what just happened as they stared at their suddenly crippled subordinates.

"Y-you bitch!" a Krogan howled as he brought up his rifle and tried to strike the girl as soon as she stepped away from the crowd on the other side from where she entered. But surprise stopped him from completing the motion as the hundreds of clones now raced towards them. "Weapons free!" he shouted at his comrades.

The mercenaries let loose with all weapons they carried, the Vorcha just standing around and incapable of lending a hand to the effort, could only howl in anger at their sudden helplessness. The gunfire popped several dozens of the clones as they closed the gap. Shotguns, rifles, biotic powers lashed out from the group. They succeeded in destroying many more clones before those furthest behind managed to finally get in close and deliver the massive blow, bombarding the aliens from all sides.

All the clones that made it into close range managed to score a hit, and in some places, multiple Rasengan's would connect with one single target. But there was more than enough for all that stood outermost in the group of Blood Pack. The Chakra spheres grinding through their kinetic barriers, through the armor, into the hide below. The mercenaries could not find any opportunities for crying out in pain as when the spheres finally dispersed, they did so with explosive force... catapulting them into the teammates behind. The group falling to pieces as Krogan and Vorcha alike were either crushed or thrown wildly around the arena.

And with that, once the last of the Blood Pack collapsed to the wet floor beneath them, silence descended on the area. What guards remained topside in cover began to reappear, running to check on the wounded, while a few dropped down to the arena to check the bodies of the mercenaries and the contestants scattered across the area. Many of them casting wary glances at the Kalinin on the way.

"Here's one, still awake." Naruto called out as he approached what seemed like the only remaining conscious Krogan of the lot, Hinata following him in turn.

The Krogan groaned.. "Just go ahead, kill me. It's a sweet mercy compared to what they will do to us for our failure."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, frowning at the being.

But the wounded Blood Pack mercenary only huffed a response... "None of your damned business."

"Then make it my business." a voice uttered coldly. The Krogan raised his eyes only to behold the visage of Aria approaching, her eyes glowing as if on fire. Her face twisted into a mask of rage, escorted by a sizable detail of Guards. At least several hundred more had arrived, gathering around the arena. She threw him up to the wall by deploying her biotics.

"P-please, I-" the Krogan began, fear crossing his voice.

"Who sent you? Tell me or I will make sure you die a truly painful death!"

"W-we were simply following orders. The Collectors...!"

"What about the Collectors saw you fit to butt into my event?"

"T-they wanted the Kalinin. The Collectors found out that they just appeared on this station. Gave us details for reference, but only showed one image... looking like that guy over there!" the Krogan continued, pointing at Kisame, whom still remained on the far side of the arena, him and Hidan collecting themselves.

"Why, what are these Collectors? What do they want with us?" Naruto shouted.

The Krogan and his interrogator briefly glanced at the boy. "I don't know. All I know is that they want you captured. They offered a lot of credits and new technology in exchange for any captured Kalinin."

"So they are Kalinin after all. The search for weapons on two of them revealed the energy within them. I simply had to know for sure." Aria almost whispered.

"T-to what end?" Hinata asked.

Aria eyed the girl for a second.

Whatever the Asari wanted to say from there was interrupted by a series of odd noises coming from the door from which the Blood Pack emerged.. Two guards quickly ran over to see what's coming, only for them to be knocked away by a large metal creature that smashed it's way through the cargo door, stabbing and killing them almost instantly.

"Damn! They are coming.. They are-" the Krogan managed to utter in horror before a particle beam from the Praetorian vaporized his head in one shot. Coming under fire from all the guards and mercenaries loyal to Aria for it's troubles... and from the door, several Collectors emerged, just the first of many.

Aria discarded the corpse to the floor.. her rage reaching new levels as she regarded the Collectors that poured through the cargo doors, guns blazing. She opened a link to all of her assembled forces.. "Kill them all!" the Asari howled, receiving dozens of confirmations, affirmatives and loud wolf-howls as all armed forces present responded and began firing on the invaders. Just the beginning of a major firefight.

Aria turned to the Kalinin.. "Follow me, and I'll get you out of here. Kalka! Make sure no Collector leaves this place alive!"

"Will do!" the Batarian responded further away as he picked off a Collector with his heavy pistol, a clear hole punched through the creature.

The Shinobi briefly discussed their options after Kisame and Hidan joined up. "Alright. Lead the way." Kisame finally said.

They ran through the lines of the mixed alien forces that maintained a constant stream of fire against the swarm of Collectors that quickly responded in kind. Aria and the Kalinin approached the exit up by her lounge after having ascended through several stairs.

One of the creatures gazed up at where they ran.. it's eyes glowing as red-hot veins seemed to split it's carapace apart.. a biotic aura cascading around it. "-Assuming direct control!" a mechanical voice boomed out across the chamber.

"What the hell is that?" Naruto gasped upon looking over his shoulder at the creature as it glared back up at them.

"Their leader can possess it's servants to take command on the field. Ignore it and keep running." Aria informed them, pressing the command to open the door at her lounge so that the Kalinin could flee through it, the Asari quickly following suit.

Almost as if in rage, it blasted from the palm of it's hand a biotic attack that threw several people off their feet and tossed them at their surrounding comrades. "I am Harbinger!" it bellowed as it kept launching attacks upon the defenders, ignoring it's minions falling all around it. Others quickly catching up and joining the fray, Husks and Abominations rushing ahead, clawing at those whom they could reach.

"Leave the dead where they fall! Continue the attack!"

The fleeing group quickly exited the establishment. The people within the club being in the process of evacuating at full speed the moment they found out about the battle at the arena. Naruto wondered why Aria's helping them escape.. though admittedly they would not have managed to get away from the Collectors nearly this fast otherwise.

The crowds parted as the group plowed through. Only stopping once they found themselves arriving at the store in which the Shinobi tried to shop at prior to Kisame and Hidan trying the fighting event for it's prize money. And then only because Konan and Mei left that store at that very moment, the bags they carried along looking quite heavy, probably filled to the brim with supplies. The Batarian shop owner looked like he had suffered the greatest beating of his lifetime. Other people appeared to be present within the shop as well, guards from the look of it. All either unconscious down on the floor, or cowering behind the counter.

The moment Konan saw them, she shot them a glare that could have blasted through a significant potion of the station, everyone in her line of sight fell backwards to the floor, except Naruto. But only because Hinata moved behind him to hide from Konan's gaze.

"Where in the world have you four been?" Konan shouted at them.

"U-um, we can explain!" Hidan responded, sounding surprisingly meek.

Aria got back up and regained her composure. "You should wait with explanations until after you get off this station. The Collectors have come here looking for you."

"The what...?" Mei asked in confusion.

"Gives me chills thinking about them... They were covered by the stench of death. I can feel it even all the way up here." Naruto described, visibly shuddering.

A faint click could be heard, Aria opened up her com link and whispered into it. "-What?" ... "You should leave, now. Some of them just managed to get past my people."

"What I don't understand..." Kisame said finally, pacing his words slowly... "Why are you helping us, being the ruler of what could be considered a hive of the wretched. With such a background, you don't exactly come across as someone charitable."

Aria eyed him for a moment.. "You really want to know? Unlike the Citadel, as scared they are of anything out of the ordinary. I see benefits in helping you. On short terms, you owe me now for lending you a hand. And on longer terms, I see an opportunity for productive future business. Might makes right in the Terminus Systems, after all."

"Sound enough." Kisame replied .. "Must have been thinking about it for a while."

"True. Ever since I first heard of you, and the subsequent rejection by the Citadel. I wondered about the possible benefits from befriending you when there are no one else for you to turn to."

"A long way we have fallen when the only friends we can scrounge together are renegades and crime bosses." Konan face-palmed, rude perhaps. But she felt disappointed.

"We'll take what we can get." Kisame shrugged.

"Good, now you should leave.. preferably in a hurry. The Collectors continue to approach... aw hell." Aria said quickly jumping away from the group as a biotic projectile passed overhead. Further away, a large group of Collectors appeared, coming their way.

Konan saw now what Naruto meant.. those creatures _visibly_ reeked of death. And all of her senses screamed at her that nothing about the creatures are natural at all. No life could be seen in their eyes, almost like walking dead. "Back to the ship!" she ordered the others, her voice carrying more urgency than intended. But the others did not comment on it as they all ran with all speed, rounding the next corner before a hailstorm of projectiles shattered several stands. Aria herself melting into the panicking crowd without anyone noticing, watching as the enemy swarm rushed past her in pursuit.

The chase was short and hectic, the Kalinin threw all the cumbersome objects they found along the way across the area to slow down the pursuers. Occasionally throwing down explosive tags and smoke bombs to obstruct the Collectors' field of fire. Sometimes Naruto summoned shadow clones and had them scatter to confuse their pursuers in the midst of the smoke bombs. They eventually found themselves back at the docks and rapidly approached the Lance of the Six Paths. Finding Kurotsuchi standing guard at the airlock, a pistol at her hip. Obviously bored out of her mind from the looks of it. Until the group arrived that is.

"Hey, you got the supplies! And found our poor lost shee- eh?" she was about to finish her sentence when a bullet pinged off the nearby hull, a horde of four-eyed creatures appearing not far from the rest. "Get in, get in!" she shouted.

"We are, for Kami's sake, we are!" Hidan shouted as he darted in, followed quickly by the rest.. Kurotsuchi provided some cover until Konan and the rest got on board the ship, blowing a clean hole through one of the Collectors before retreating into the airlock and closed it off.

Konan quickly moved to the intercom. "Nagato, Shikamaru! We need to leave now, don't argue with me!"

She broadcast the message across the ship, sending all Kalinin unknowing of the situation into a frenzy. "Roger that." Shikamaru shouted, greatly annoyed by the sudden call, sounding as if he had been napping on the bridge. The boy quickly went through the initial inspection procedures before he started the engines, and the mass effect generator. The ship flared to life and detached from Omega's docks. Slowly accelerating away from the station.

Behind it at the docks, Harbinger stared at the departing ship. "You have merely delayed the inevitable." it uttered darkly. "Releasing control."

On the other side of the station, a Collector ship detached from the docks and departed in pursuit, a smaller ship was left behind to accommodate the drones that could not get back in time. Deep within the seemingly organic cruiser, the cruiser powered up it's particle beam weapon.. sending forth a lance of energy at the fleeing Hensa.

"What was that?" Onoki shouted as he watched the displays, showing the beam that passed merely a dozen feet off the hull.

"We are being pursued. A cruiser of unknown profile!" Preta Path spoke up, scanning the ship approaching from behind them.

"Shikamaru, prepare the ship for jump!" Onoki hollered towards the youth.

"Drive is hot and ready." Shikamaru flatly stated.

"Get us to the Mass relay, now!"

In the moment before the particle beam veered to the side to strike at it's intended target, mass effect fields wrapped around the Lance of the Six Paths and propelled it into FTL, vanishing into the distance. The Collector Cruiser quickly aligned itself to follow the same jump vector and jumped after the fleeing cruiser.

* * *

Several days later, the enormous Migrant fleet passed through the local star system, taking little note of the gas giants within the system, nor it's moons. All bereft of useful resources of any kind.

It had been an hour since a lone frigate suddenly added itself to the already huge ship count within the system, but different in that this one belonged to Cerberus. It waited in the dark side of the closest moon facing the passing Quarian Migrant fleet, poised to strike.

A crazy thought all things considered, but a small ant can topple an elephant given enough effort.

"It's too much to hope for, I'd say. They most likely know that we are here. But they won't chase us off unless we go too close." George informed the other whom also viewed the displays.

"It does not matter, as long as we know the interior of those ships... being intercepted are the least of our concern." Madara spoke with a hint of irritation.

"Quite honestly, I disagree. The men are uneasy enough as it is. You know, I've worked my ass off to gather them. Had to hire Blue Suns even. Not that they will complain about the pay we offered them. But they were expecting more ships on our side."

"The number of ships are irrelevant." Madara coldly stated as he continued to glare at the displays, singling out ships. His eyes were resting on the images of the massive Life-ships. Alas, he doubted that they place such artifacts in such blatant locations. "That." he pointed at an aging gunship that seemed to be patrolling at the outermost edge of the Flotilla, closest to them. "Gather everyone now, the operation will soon commence."

George carried his doubts, but since the Illusive man saw it fit to give Madara overall command of this operation, he could not complain much. He sent the general message across the ship, ordering everyone to gather in the hangar.

It took the greater whole of ten minutes before everyone managed to assemble in the hangar... Madara pausing to look over his current forces. Sixty-two men and women under arms. Thirty-five Cerberus Commandos... twenty-seven Blue Suns. The rest appeared to be pirates, lone mercenaries and such.

"Alright, listen up." George shouted. "The operation will commence as soon as this briefing is done. This man will be your Commanding Officer for the duration of this mission." he gestured to Madara.

The gaze amongst the crew collectively settled on the lone Kalinin, slightly confused about the concealing mask the individual used. But if Madara knew of their discontent, he gave no sign of it. "I am Madara Uchiha." he introduced himself shortly. "The objective of this operation is simple. We will go in, retrieve this artifact." he raised a hand and pressed the button of a controller, a screen opening in mid-air to display the tablet. The image came from one of those that have already been found. But considering the former, nothing different was expected of the third one. "And then get out. Failure will not be tolerated."

"And how exactly are we going to do that with just one ship and a few dozen armed personnel?" One of the Blue Suns asked, several of those around him nodding.

"I have a way which will not require us breaking through their defensive line. Sufficed to say." he raised his voice as the murmurs among the crowd increased.. "Sufficed to say! There will be no difficulty in getting in and out, the only complication is to subdue the crew of any ship we end up on. If it tries to resist." he paused... "Kill it."

There remained some doubtful looks among those present, but otherwise they remained quiet, as if Madara's confidence started to rub off on them. Armed, armored and ready.

"Any further questions?" George asked... silence filled the room.

"Then we are ready. The operation begins now!" Madara spoke, signaling the end of the briefing. "Don't pull the triggers of your guns by accident though, this might feel strange the first time."

The gathered armed force stared at him in confusion as the space around them seemed to blur. Reality seemingly bursting at the seams. And in a moment, all present in the hangar vanished... the assault beginning a mere moment late as the crew on board the first targeted Quarian ship suddenly found themselves fighting for their lives.

* * *

He tried to sleep, but found no rest. Shepard wondered just how long he could go on like this without any leads. Maybe everything would have been simpler if they never encountered the Kalinin, though he did not regret saving them. But they produced a great number of difficulties along the way as well. Not to mention jarring experiences. He thought back on the mortally wounded visage of Tali that a young Kalinin in Cerberus' employ showed him. It was merely an illusion, but thinking about it still made him feel the cold running through his spine.

He eventually got off his bed and stared emptily at his aquarium. But he was interrupted as EDI's voice called out to him. "Shepard. Tali would like to speak with you. She told me it's urgent."

Shepard gave a curt nod.. "Alright, I'll be down in five." he responded before leaving the room, heading down to engineering and turned to move through the additional doors between him and the Quarian Engineer, whom already stood facing the door as he entered.

She spoke before he could greet her, sounding greatly distressed. "Thank you for coming down on such short notice. There have been an emergency broadcast."

"A broadcast?" Shepard asked.

"Yes... Shepard, the Flotilla is under attack. T-they were taken by surprise. And so far they have no idea what's attacking them!" she replied, her voice shaking.

"How?"

"I don't know how. They are losing contact with one ship after another. And the enemy are long gone by the time reinforcements arrive. Only for another ship to drop off the grid. There are no survivor in any of the 'infected' ships so far. The Admiralty board are now referring to the enemy as 'Ghosts'."

Shepard thought it over very quickly, it did sound suspicious. For some reason he could not help but think that some Kalinin might be involved. Tali stared at him with pleading eyes. He knew what she hoped for him to do.

"Don't worry Tali. Inform your superiors that we will come to lend a hand." Shepard looked up at the ceiling.. "You listening to this, Joker? I know you are."

"Just a little." Joker admitted, a comment could be heard from EDI trying to lecture him about eavesdropping on other peoples conversations.

Tali went right on typing in commands on her Omni-tool.. "Transmitting the coordinates for the Flotilla's current location."

"Okay, checking." Joker called out as he checked the information. "Whoa, a lot closer than I thought it would be. We should be there within the day. As long as we don't run into trouble or delays."

"Thank you." Tali said, at the same time visibly trying to force herself to be patient. Almost as if getting set to go EVA and push the ship.

"Just relax, and make proper preparations. I'll get the team ready."

"Yes, Commander. Thank you." Tali repeated while nodding gratefully, watching as Shepard gave her a comforting smile before turning to leave.


	21. Chapter 21

It took them sixteen hours to reach the fleet from the moment they left the relay. From this distance, he could just barely see it.. the only sign of it being a vague cloud that partially hid the stars behind it. The scanners however showed a much better image of the positioning. But even then, it was hard to process the imagery of fifty thousand ships. But amidst all of the chaos, one anomaly could be seen. The image showed a wide circular gap in the swarm, almost resembling that of a huge school of fish getting out of the way of sharks darting through it. In this wide hole there appeared to be more than a dozen ships tumbling without any direction at all. Possibly the ships that have been attacked so far, Shepard thought grimly.

His gave a solemn nod to Tali, whom opened a link to the fleet to communicate with the fleet. Failure to do would have resulted in their ship getting shot down on approach.

"This is Tali'Zorah vas Neema requesting permission to dock with the Rayya."

Shepard watched the center of the thickest formations of ships on display, three massive craft. The majority of their length seemed to consist of the rotating orb on the front of the ships.

"Our system has your ship flagged as Cerberus, verify." the answer came, the voice straight to the point and partially cautious.

Tali paused for but a second before she answered.. "After time adrift among open stars, along tides and shoals of dust, I will return to where I began."

"Permission granted. Welcome home, Tali'Zorah."

"We'd like a security and quarantine team to meet us. Our ship is not clean."

"Understood, approach exterior docking cradle 17."

"Take us in, Joker." Shepard told Joker before turning to face the others. "Make no mistakes, keep your suits sealed and tight."

"Fine, just give me something to shoot." Grunt shrugged.

Thane simply nodded.

It took a bit of waiting, but eventually the ship docked with the Rayya. They all went through extensive scanning procedures before they were finally allowed to go past the security and quarantine crews that makes sure that no contaminants get onto the Rayya. With their very weak immune system, none are willing to risk an outbreak. They met the Captain of the ship and quickly moved through a series of rooms and hallways, until they finally arrived at the courtyard where the Admiralty board appeared to be in the middle of an ongoing debate with a great number of Captains and civilian councilors present. All greatly vexed from the looks of it.

Only one of the Admirals noticed the newly arrived crew, and approached in short order. "I'm glad you could come, Tali'Zorah." Admiral Shala'Raan softly greeted.

"Auntie Raan." Tali greeted with no small hint of a smile behind her visor. "Shepard vas Normandy, this is Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay."

Shepard gave a polite nod. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise. Tali spoke very highly of you, in your unfortunate absence." Shala'Raan remarked.

Shepard chuckled. But anything he wanted to say was interrupted rudely by one of the other Admirals.

"I am perfectly sure you're having a pleasant time, but right now we have a crisis to unravel if you don't mind." Han'Gerrel vas Neema growled.

"Right now I would like nothing more than to save this fleet, but I need to know what you have learned about the enemy so far." Shepard replied resolutely.

Han'Gerrel snorted.. "Nothing more than what you already know."

"Any clues about where they came from?"

"None, the only leads we got are a lone frigate that is currently within the system. But it have kept it's distance so it's not considered a threat."

"Did you scan it?"

"Yes, but we gained little information from it."

Shepard sighed, he and Tali walked through the crowd, now the present focus of attention for those already present. Thane and Grunt remained at the outer edge of the room, simply observing.

"Scan it again. We won't be getting anywhere unless we at least know the affiliation of that Frigate."

"Agreed." Zal'Koris vas Qwib Qwib noted with a degree of enthusiasm. "We should have used the whole scanning capacity of the fleet to begin with and be done with it."

The Admiral turned his attention to the Captains gathered within the same room, and appeared to be confident that every other Commanding Officer within the fleet also observed the meeting through the feeds. Upon getting no answer from Han'Gerrel, he was about to give the general order to focus all scanning effort to discern the origin of the ship, which only recently began to withdraw slowly from it's current location. But many ships had taken the initiative before the order even came. Eventually, several dozen ships, eventually turning into hundreds as they all focused on the retreating ship. It did not take much waiting before the results began to stream in.

"Cerberus." One Captain began, rising from his seat. Followed by another, then two more.. then ten. Many failed to get the readings, but it did not mar the end result.

Han'Gerrel placed a palm on his visor, firmly trying to avoid the smirk that the triumphant Zal'Koris sent him.

"Cerberus it is then.." Shepard had said, more a statement than a question. "I hoped it wouldn't be them, but it simplifies matters at least."

"Agreed, I don't believe the implications to be particularly charming." Tali muttered. An understatement.

"There are two likely explanations for them being able to get around so fast without being noticed. They either possess a boarding craft with very advanced stealth technology. Or they have a method of teleportation."

"The latter I find extremely unlikely. It's merely fiction." Daro'Xen vas Moreh finally spoke up.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they have a Kalinin along with such capabilities." Shepard retorted with a soft sigh.

"And what exactly is a Kalinin?" Han'Gerrel irritably asked.

"A species that were recently attacked by the Geth. They were nearly exterminated by the synthetics." Shepard informed him promptly... "We managed to evacuate what remained of them just in time. Since then, Cerberus have been gathering corpses from their home world, and are currently working on reviving as many as possible. Possibly to create an army of Super Soldiers."

A few Quarians gazed solemnly at the floor at that. "A grave tragedy that." Zal'Koris told him slowly. "But how could just one 'Kalinin' pose such a threat to us?"

"They have great latent powers beyond that of Biotics, Admiral. Despite relatively primitive technology and total lack of firearms, they managed to resist the Geth for months. The few I have witnessed in combat thus far have proved themselves very formidable."

"But why would they attack the Migrant fleet? Is there anything you have that could have provoked Cerberus' attention of late?" Tali asked curiously.

"Like what?" Daro'Xen asked, paying rapt attention.

Shepard thought about that for a moment.. "Some time ago, a team from Cerberus alongside a Kalinin attacked a dig site and extracted an artifact. A tablet of some kind. Have you come across anything of the sort?"

The Admirals exchanged gazes as they processed the information.

"It might be the key to solving this situation."

One of the Captains present stood up and raised a hand.. "A tablet? Is it something... like this?" he activated his omni-tool and opened up an image of an artifact which resided in a crate. "My mining expedition came across this on a distant world."

"Yes... that's it. Except the signs in the middle, it looks almost identical to the other we saw on Klencory." Shepard stated. "We can use it to end the attack."

"How so?" Han'Gerrel asked, his gaze lingering on the presented image.

"They're possibly picking the fleet apart in order to find that artifact." Shepard explained.. "You can either give it to them, or we place it where we can build a strong defensive perimeter, reveal the location of the tablet, and wipe out those that try to take it."

"A sound plan, Commander." Zal'Koris nodded.

"Before we decide upon anything, we must confer upon which plan we should pursue." Shala'Raan spoke loud and clear.. "Captain, have the tablet transported here from the Vala."

"Yes, I will give the order immediately." the Captain complied.

"For now, this meeting is adjourned. We will continued in fifteen minutes." Shala'Raan continued before the Admirals began to gather while the other people present allowed themselves a moment to rest their minds.

Shepard paced back to the others while Tali remained behind amidst the crowd.. "We're getting somewhere at last. Recent times have been hard on us."

"As long as there's a good fight to be had at the end of it, I got no trouble." Grunt responded, not really hiding the fact that he's bored. "What are the odds of those guys choosing to fight?"

"That's for them to decide, Grunt." Thane told the Krogan.

"It would probably benefit us some more if we fight the invaders here and potentially discover something about the tablet that got them all so interested. I bet Mordin would love to study it." Shepard spoke his mind, receiving a chuckle from Grunt.

"Yeah, that would be great. Especially the fighting part."

Both the others rolled their eyes at that. It's nothing out of the ordinary, coming from a Krogan anyway. They were all distracted from their current thoughts by the time that someone hailed them over the com link.

"Hey, Shepard!" Joker exclaimed the moment Shepard opened the link.

"What's going on, Joker?"

"Don't know what you have been telling them in there, but the whole fleet are currently massing around the Live-ships. We're talking about real close quarters here. One ship fell off the grid as the fleet gathered."

"What purpose would such a formation serve?" Thane asked, intrigued.

Shepard gave it a thought... "Probably to tighten their defenses and reduce the distance in which potential reinforcements need to travel. Maybe putting pressure on the enemy. At least, that's my guess."

"Looks like them Admirals are ready to speak again, why not ask them?" Grunt asked, gesturing towards the meeting as every Quarian began to quiet down to pay full attention. Everything indicated that the Admirals would be making an announcement, less than starting a debate. In the minds of many in the room... it's about time.

"The decision have been made to recognize the plan outlined before us by Human Captain John Shepard vas Normandy to be our current best course of action. It will without a doubt start a battle on board one of our precious Live-ships, which could potentially cost us much. This decision have only come to pass after our most recent report, the ship Alarei have dropped out of contact." Shala'Raan announced with a soft, but clear voice.

"N-no.." a very heartfelt whisper came from Tali as she sank to her knees.

"We have to assume the worst have befallen it's crew and Admiral Rael'Zorah, whom was on the ship at the time of the attack." Shala'Raan raised her voice.. "For the losses they have cost us, we will make them pay in blood. To all men and women under arms whom are about to participate in the battle that will most likely erupt on the Rayya soon, we all pray that victory shall be yours to claim. Keelah se'lai!"

"Keelah se'lai!" the words thundered across the room as everyone but Tali had gotten to their feet and shook their fists above their heads.

* * *

Two hours quickly went by. The amount of activity within the Rayya increased greatly as the Quarians prepared for the upcoming battle. Civilians continued to be ferried out. The artifact had been brought on board, and placed upon an improvised pedestal.. It's presence standing as an island surrounded by ocean of Quarian Marines. The aliens quickly fortifying the large courtyard and neighboring rooms. A lot materials were shipped in to function as improvised cover.

Tali had been staring coldly at the artifact since it had been placed into the courtyard, almost as if blaming it's existence for the possible death of her father. Shala'Raan offered her condolences, including Han'Gerrel and even Zal'Koris. Daro'Xen left the ship a moment ago.. and would soon be followed by the other Admirals.

Shepard looked over the defenses set in place. There weren't any heavy weaponry. And the cover which the Quarians erected into place circled around the artifact entirely, and organized into multiple tiers. He had no real fix on just how many Quarians about to participate in the fight, but there appeared to be at least a few hundred or more. They sent in as many as they could, within limits, anymore and they would have ended up clogging the area, making it difficult to move around.

Slowly, everyone got into position. The scheduled announcement as part of the plan would be starting any minute now, and this time it would be a fleet-wide broadcast, to make sure the enemy listen. Silence fell upon the ship as the broadcast began, Shepard recognized the one speaking to be that old Han'Gerrel.

"To the cowardly lot that are attacking our fleet, killing our people. Men, women, even children."

View screens across the fleet opened with an image of the artifact, it's very vague aura of energy making the it's surface shine slightly as the lights focused on the artifact. "Let us see how you fare when the targets of your murderous hands shoot back. If you want this artifact, come and claim it! That is, if you have the guts to face us in combat! So come, the Rayya awaits you!" Han'Gerrel shouted the challenge fiercely.

"He sure packed a lot of bravado into that speech of his." Thane remarked dryly.

Grunt chuckled.. "I liked it. I'm ready!"

The next few minutes paced by in complete silence as every Quarian across the courtyard and neighboring rooms and corridors kept their eyes on their surroundings. Armed and ready for anything. But no signs of the enemy, yet.

A few began to doubt that the enemy would come, until gunfire suddenly rang out in the adjacent rooms. First a lone one, then a dozen quickly joined the first. The enemy had arrived. But before a score of Marines could move in to assist, a black spot suddenly appeared in midair before them.

"If you desire a battle, I will give you one." a voice called out as the strange spot expanded to include a whirl marked orange mask with only one hole for one of his eyes. Otherwise the being sported sandals and a very familiar cloak.. the same type of clothes Shepard had seen worn by Nagato, Konan, Kisame and Hidan. Nearly everyone present reacted to his presence violently, letting loose a rain of bullets upon the stranger.

"Got him!" a nearby Quarian called out, but the voice died out with a horrified gasp. All the bullets passed through the enemy harmlessly, instead impacting the wall behind him.

"Kalinin!" Shepard cried out in the same manner as soldiers shouting out to warn their comrades about an incoming artillery strike.

The air seemed to warp around the man's exposed eye region, warping as if reality itself was distorted. But instead of an attack. the strange blur extended across a wide area around the stranger, eventually fading only for a score of Cerberus Commandos and Blue Suns appearing out of thin air besides him, all jumping for cover and began shooting at the Quarian defenders, whom all swiftly leaped into cover and responded. The thunder of gunfire, and the screams of the wounded and the dying now filling the once tranquil courtyard.

Shepard leaned out of cover for a few seconds, taking aim with his assault rifle, gently squeezing the trigger, firing in short bursts to maximize accuracy, dropping a pair of Blue Suns shielding quickly and placed in the killing blows with the next hails of bullets before the mercenaries could get back in cover. Thane stayed much further back, putting his sniper rifle to good use, planting each round on opponents who's kinetic barriers were depleted as the fight dragged on. Otherwise he helped wounded Quarians behind the defensive lines, many of which lacked kinetic barriers. Grunt however kept himself occupied with just killing the enemy, unceremoniously shoving away allies whom got too close just to make sure he's got a clear shot, thunderclaps splitting the air with each slug launched.

Tali also chose to use her shotgun... but targeted the Kalinin whom still remained standing, almost as if bemused.. all bullets and slugs directed towards him only ended up passing through him, leaving the alien untouched. She could not believe her eyes, even after all that she have been through. He eventually seemed to tilt his head towards her, staring at her with that lone visible eye. And for the faintest second, she could see her dead father on the deck. The Quarian reared back as she tried to clear the image from her mind, shooting at him as anger overcame her.

George dropped to his knees as he popped another thermal clips and put in a new one. There's no time at all for letting the thermal clips cool down at all in this situation. But he felt a slight sense of relief as a large number of footsteps approached from behind their formation, joined by the rest whom Madara had dropped off further away to take care of the outer defenses. Even with several dozen reinforcements however, fact remained that they remained vastly outnumbered, if only reduced to one Commando for every five Quarians.

He stood up from cover and let loose a salvo at the most readily available target in his sight, watching as the visor of this enemy shattered from the hits and saw it fall out of view while once again dropping himself behind cover as bullets directed towards him passed overhead. The balancing factor in this fight being that the Quarians lack of resources makes their forces lightly equipped. Many did not have any kinetic barriers for protection. In contrast to the Commandos surrounding him and the Blue Suns, whom all were well equipped for the job.

He looked up from the cover, at the artifact. It remained the only reason for their attack on the fleet. They needed to get to it before the numbers of natives becomes a deciding factor.

"Focus fire on the group before me, clear the path of any Quarian filth." Madara commanded as he began to move forward, not acknowledging the abundance of cover and objects across the courtyard, simply passing through every obstacle he encountered along the way.

Once upon a time, George would have laughed at the notion of super powers, but he wasn't laughing anymore. If the Kalinin still existed as a civilization, became interstellar and possessed even the slightest thread of ambition, they could have conquered the galaxy by themselves. It's as though if a god had shaped these beings into living weapons, exactly for that purpose.

"Roger that, all squads blow a hole through the middle of the enemy fortification!" George called out to the rest before turning to take another pot shot as another comrade of his fell next to him, a bullet hole blown clean through his head. George gazed at whomever took that shot and discovered a Drell among the Quarians, hefting a sniper rifle, acquiring another target before once again opening fire. He could faintly hear, even in the midst of this chaos, yet another mercenary crumble to the deck.

George let loose a brief burst of fire, forcing the opposing Drell to cease fire and drop into cover. "What's a Drell doing here, anyway? Is he one of Shepard's crew?" he murmured. A Blue Sun close enough to overhear him gave a shrug before he leaned out of cover and resumed firing.

Predictably, Madara became a bullet magnet as he approach the opposing lines.. at several points during the advance, as many as three dozen Quarians opened fire on him, from simple pistols to shotguns and assault rifles tore into Madara's form, but always with the same result. The soldiers and mercenaries behind him opening fire on those whom turned their attention towards Madara. Eventually opening a hole in their lines. Only a few stubborn ones refused to be driven off. Two of them jumped out of cover as Madara moved past them, trying to see if they could bring him down their bare hands, only to suddenly vanished as they tried to connect their punches with the almost calmly marching figure, their forms simply warped away into that lone visible eye of his. Without even breaking his stride towards the artifact.

The gunfire focused towards him began to be directed at the other enemies, several Blue Suns and Commandos fell within seconds as additional reinforcements began to arrive from the opposite side of the room. Some which are moving through the corridors of the Rayya to ambush the invaders.

Madara placed his left palm against the surface of the table to take it. But that movement coincided with an approaching fist and caught him in the act. He managed just barely to grit his teeth before the fist connected, cracking his mask while the force of impact sent him flying. "Wha... ?" he managed to utter as he landed onto the deck and skidded a few feet across it.

He immediately turned to look up at the one whom struck him... discovering it to be the one whom Kabuto described.. "Shepard, I presume!"

"It seems like you aren't invincible after all!" the triumphant Human stated seriously.

Madara stood up, half his face visible as parts of his mask fell off. "Good hit, but you won't get another chance."

"Good job Shepard!" a voice shouted from behind Madara, a familiar Quarian approached the Kalinin, about to strike him with the butt of his rifle.

Shepard blinked, watching Madara as he calmly turned to regard the attacking Quarian. That did not look promising. "No, Kal'Reegar. No!" he paced himself into a full on charge, through the now once again intangible Kalinin and rammed against the charging Quarian, both of them dropping away, out of Madara's range.

"You catch on pretty fast, Shepard." Madara complimented the Human before his attention turned towards a sudden source of Chakra within the courtyard that didn't come from the artifact. Finding a lone card by his feet. With some measure of curiosity, he knelt down and examined the item as he picked it up. "A Chakra encoded card, how amusing to find you with one of these."

Shepard cursed under his breath. He retrieved it from Mordin as his investigations turned up with no results. "Nagato gave it to me."

Madara smiled.. "I see, how considerate of him." he hummed, gazing at the surface of the card, ignoring the battle as it continued around them. "Fire, water, wind, earth. So the trigger is the five elements?"

"What's it to you?" Shepard shouted.

The Kalinin tilted his head to the side. "Everything in fact. You have the key to find the others whom remain free. The tablets may carry a great destiny for us. One that might shake this galaxy to it's very core." he looked up at Shepard, his visible eye narrowing in a menacing manner.

Shepard did not know what to think of the tablets. But the fact that there might have been a species in the distant past who shaped the Kalinin.. He could not help but feel intrigued.

Madara looked down at the card again before he tossed it over to Shepard and turned back towards the artifact. "Lightning. The final element is lightning in case you don't know. Find these friends of yours." he placidly stated before he warped the tablet away.

Shepard caught it, and only looked up quickly enough to see the tablet gone. "Damn it!" the Human struck the deck with his fist. The Quarian behind him finally managing to get himself up and tried to shoot at Madara, with predictable results.

"We are done here." Madara announced before he moved back to the others. Less than a third remained now of the Blue Suns and the Commandos, all the other mercenaries had been taken down. The losses heavy on both sides.

"Don't let them get away!" Kal'Reegar howled as he wrestled himself free from Shepard's restraining grip to prevent another attempt at bravado. The Quarian opened fire, watching Madara still unfazed.. though unknowing that a Blue Sun stood up on the other side and got hit by the enraged Kal'Reegar's barrage of bullets and fell over, dead before he hit the floor.

The surviving invaders rushed to surround the Kalinin.. only about nine remaining now, firing back at the now overwhelming resistance and steadily faltering. Madara used his space time technique, causing both himself and those around him to vanish... One Commando fell away and died even as the technique warped him away. The escape signaling the end of the table.

In space, beyond the hull of the Rayya, a great number of the Migrant fleet's Gunships began to converge on the Cerberus frigate, which had been moving back towards the fleet during the time of the battle. Only for the nimble ship to turn tail again upon the arrival of the battle's survivors, and jumped, vanishing into the darkness of space.

* * *

The battle had been won, but it proved to be a costly win. The tablet was lost and a hundred Quarians on the Rayya lay dead, not counting the crews lost on the previously attacked ships. During all of this, Shepard and his squad provided assistance in checking the drifting ships, to confirm if the enemy truly did leave.

Shepard tried to comfort Tali as she eventually found corpse of her father on the Alarei. The engineer broke down completely, releasing a flood of tears she held back since first finding out about his death.

Eventually, they prepared to leave. Shepard found a circuit that was damaged during the battle and remembered Madara's words. The circuit shot sparks of electricity in every direction. It seemed dangerous, but Shepard brought the card forward and placed it upon a crate and pushed it close to the circuit, watching as the sparks eventually touched the card. Concern momentarily taking hold at that moment, worried that the electrical surge power might be too much for the card to bear. But it sucked up the power without any harm at all.. and finally, the fifth symbol appeared on it's surface. The card's surface beginning to shift.

"Hm?"

"What is it, Shepard?" Thane inquired as he stepped over to Shepard as he went to retrieve the card. "You managed to find it out, about the card?"

"Yes." Shepard replied softly as he in anticipation stared at the card, watching as the symbols vanished and soon replaced by an image that came to hover five inches off the card's surface. Showing an image of the galaxy. "Is that...?" the Human asked as he saw a dot appear, shaping quickly into a cross marking an area of the galaxy, and a small text formed above it; Caleston rift. And an even smaller text next to it that designated a specific system.

Shepard activated his com link immediately. "Everyone, we need to go, now."

He received a small protest from Tali, but she caught herself quickly enough and bid her farewell to Shala'Raan before she started moving back to the ship.

Half an hour later, Normandy detached from the Rayya and departed from the Migrant fleet. Joker engaging the FTL, their initial destination being the closest Mass Relay. It could take them a while to reach that system. So Shepard would during that time keep checking the card for updates about what could be Nagato and his crew's location.

* * *

The time went by so fast that Shepard was quite pleasantly surprised when EDI announced that they are nearly at the Mass relay that would sent them into the Caleston rift. "Just a matter of time now. A day or so." he whispered to himself while gazing down at the card, sitting down by his desk and began to read over the most recent reports.. twitching the moment a voice reached his ears.

"Greetings, Shepard."

A voice too familiar. Shepard whirled around as he rose from his chair, pulling a gun out of the drawer as he came face to face with the familiar being that somehow had gotten onto the ship. "You!"

"Yes, it's me." the man spoke. Madara. "Do not be alarmed. Why would I come to harm the precious messenger who are searching for the wayward of my people?"

"What do you want from me?" Shepard growled, keeping his finger on the trigger. Although knowing that it wouldn't make much of a difference.

"I come as an enlightened man. I and my associates have discovered a great truth. A great destiny! And I want you to spread it to the others."

"Why?"

"Why? To give them the chance to join us in the coming time of glory." Madara said as he summoned three tablets that had been recently gathered together before Shepard's eyes. "And this, will convince them."

"The artifacts, but why are you giving them over now?"

"We have already uncovered the message and learned everything we need from it. Now we want the others to know the same truth."

"And if I don't hand them over?"

"I believe you are also curious about what information these tablets contains. Information that you would gladly covet in your struggle. However, the only way to access that information... is through the use of Tailed beasts. And as I recall, the others still got most of them, except two which remain in our possession. If you want to know of what these tablets contain, you got no choice but to deliver them. If you still won't. I can't guarantee your safety." Madara spoke at length, the last part containing no small a threat.

Shepard cursed under his breath. If that's the truth, then he did not have any other options but to deliver them..

"Now if you excuse me, I will now take my leave. I am so looking forward to what the others will make of the message." Madara chuckled darkly as he vanished from sight, leaving the tablets on the floor... glowing with a faint light that pulsed at the same tact. The elevator opened to allow entrance to Jacob and a trio of other crew members, all armed.

"You alright?" Jacob whispered to Shepard before his gaze drifted to the artifacts.

Shepard rubbed his temples.. "The Kalinin we encountered on the Migrant fleet dropped these things and left."

Jacob did not seem to know what to think of that.. "What are we going to do about those things?"

"Take the artifacts down to Mordin and have him try to decipher them. And hope the things aren't as hard to access as that man described them to be."


	22. Chapter 22

"Nothing to report?" Commander Kiril asked his Executive officer. This patrol assignment have proven itself quite dull so far. Not that it's a bad thing of course, it meant that there's no threats to Citadel space in these parts.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, sir. This sector remains secure." Vyrnu replied after receiving the collected information from the most recent scans.

"What of the other ships?"

"We have received orders to prepare for jump and move on to the neighboring system."

Kiril responded accordingly as he turned back to watch the displays, to look over the rest of the patrol fleet; two Cruisers, his included along with five Frigates dotting the displays. Kiril was about to return to the CIC on the center of the Command deck when the ship suddenly shook.

"Sir!" the Flight Lieutenant cried out as a foreign Cruiser disengaged it's FTL, directly in the middle of the fleet. Two of their Frigates hurried to get clear of the massive ship that proceeded to travel straight through the fleet, ignoring the surrounding ships.

"Hensa class cruiser, sir! Orders?" Vyrnu requested as he braced himself.

Kiril's mandibles twitched in agitation. "Possibly pirates, they must be crazy to challenge us like this. Activate all forward batteries, destroy it!"

"Sir, another ship just appeared, unknown profile!"

"What?" he shouted in response, peering down at the display as it showed a massive ship stopping just above their formation... It's shape provided Kiril with the mental image of an insect hive. "What the hell is that?"

"It's powering up weapons!"

The massive ship tilted down towards them, and from the front of the ship a fine needle of energy spiked forward and sliced an unfortunate Frigate in half, in one shot.

"Forget about the bloody Hensa. Focus all firepower on that ship!" Kiril cried out.. all other ships in the fleet turning in unison as they fired upon the hostile Cruiser. The beam weapon fired once again, blasting a hole clean through the other Cruiser.

"Damn it! Don't let up!"

* * *

"Nice, of all the thousands of light years of empty space, you had to land us in the middle of a Turian fleet. Good job." Onoki growled, his voice running cold with sarcasm.

"Shut up, old man!" Shikamaru drawled back.. "At the very least they will distract the Collectors for a while."

The aging man eased himself back into his chair as he watched the displays, showing the ongoing battle. "Fair enough. Just get us the hell out of here."

Deva Path shook it's head at that.. "Unfortunately we can't."

"What, why not?"

"The static electrical charge in our FTL engines have risen almost to terminal levels, we must discharge the drive before we move on."

Onoki felt a momentary urge to strike something, but restrained himself, understanding that it wouldn't solve anything.. "What are our options?"

"There's a gas giant nearby. We can use that." Nagato suggested.

"Alright. Bring us there and be quick about it, Shikamaru!"

"Never going to catch a break." Shikamaru released a drawn out sigh as he changed course. "Roger that, sir."

* * *

"You know what? I've really grown to dislike space travel. We have no choice but to depend on the ship to survive." Naruto complained as he put his fruit juice down on the table and leaned back. He and Hinata having ended up sitting around in the mess hall, for the moment not having anything to do but sit around and hope the current danger passes away.

"Just trust in the ship as you would your own friends, boy." Mei told him as she moved about, cleaning the room for the sheer sake of doing something. Konan could be heard doing the dishes in the kitchen.

"Yeah, but it's just one big tool in the end. As long as we don't break it and make sure to maintain it, it will continue to protect us." Tenten whispered as she drank down the rest of her juice.

"Yeah. But here, we'll die if the hull is breached. We depend on this thing much more than other tools."

Hinata shrugged.. "No g-good worrying. Shikamaru and the rest will get us through this j-just fine."

A long sigh... "Yeah, I guess your right. I'm over-thinking this. We should get some of those so called holo's to help relieve stress. I could really need some excitement. And it will still take a while before the training room's done."

"Yeah. There are horror-vids, action-vids... even comedy and such things. We should get a few of those." Tenten suggested.

"Some action, some comedy would both be great. Not interested in horror though, not in the mood for anything horror after seeing those bugs back there.. thinking about them still gives me the chills."

"Uh, how about some romantic comedy then? I hear those are great." Tenten suggested, changing the topic back.

"From who...?" Hinata asked.

"I don't know the names... but I've overheard quite some people talking about different holo's. What they're about and so on."

Naruto laughed.. "Heh, bond making. Love and friendships enduring no matter the obstacles."

"Could go for drama, myself." Konan said as she approached the youngsters. "Tenten, could you deliver these drinks to Shikamaru and Onoki?" she requested, gesturing to the cups she put down on the table.

"Will do." the youth replied, putting the cups onto a plate and left the room in short order.

"Ain't drama all tears and stuff?" Naruto asked, slumping at the thought.

Mei giggled... "How about some musicals while we're at it. We could really use some good song."

Silence fell upon the room as the ship suddenly began to shake, the group gazing up at the ceiling nervously for a while before calming down again. Nothing seemed to be wrong.

"Phew... yeah, songs are good. Think my ears are still bleeding after Hidan tried to sing." Naruto whispered as he eventually picked the conversation back up, making exaggerated gestures that made the others present giggle in response.

"Where's Kurotsuchi currently?" Hinata asked out of curiosity. "Would like to know what she'd like to see."

The Mizukage shook her head while smiling.. "I believe she's asleep."

"Ah, I'm so jealous. To be able to take a nap in this situation. I haven't gotten a moments sleep since those damned Collectors started to chase after us... for how long till now?" Naruto responded with a hint of disbelief.

At that moment, the door behind them flew open, and through it a clearly sweaty and overworked Hidan glared at them. "Naruto, haul your ass over to the engine room and lend us a hand!"

Naruto jumped from his seat at the holler.. "Right, on my way!" the boy called out as he ran past the man, whom flexed his shoulders while grumbling in annoyance before going back.

Konan looked at Hinata... "Could you give me a hand in the kitchen? Need to prepare some dinner for later."

Hinata gave a polite nod before getting up to join her.. "Yes, I'm coming."

* * *

"You sure this is it, Commander?" Joker cast a sidelong glance at Shepard as he stood next to the helmsman.

Shepard responded in the affirmative.. "Yes. The card still indicates that this is where we can find them. EDI, have you found something?"

"Scans are ongoing, Commander." The AI informed him... "Ship signatures detected."

"Show me."

The AI quickly showed the results of her scans. Displaying an image on the one of the displays. Showing the star system, three planets, one asteroid field, and an outer gas giant. "No Kowloon class ships detected. The only noticeable heat emissions are coming from an old Batarian Hensa class Cruiser close to the gas giant." the AI reported.

"I doubt they would keep using the Kowloon as their base. A Cruiser however are a much better choice, and there's plenty to take it from.. slavers and pirates mostly." Shepard replied as he thought about it. "It must be them. Take us in closer an-"

"Commander, I have detected several signatures located close to the edge of the system. Most of them are ship wrecks, profiles indicate Turian cruisers, a patrol fleet." EDI paused.. "Larger signature..." The AI paused again... deciding that an image will speak louder than words, and Shepard felt as if his heart bumped up into his throat at the sight.

A Collector ship.

"Ah, sir. This looks a bit fishy. We've been trying to find the Collectors for weeks, and suddenly we happen to stumble over them right here?" Joker asked with no small sense of alarm.

Shepard's eyes narrowed.. "No. It confirms that the Kalinin are here in this system. Otherwise the Collectors would not have come here just to pick a fight. What's the ship's condition, any reaction to our presence?"

"No, Commander. I do not detect any heat emissions coming from the ship. It seems like the Turians managed to disable it." EDI informed him.

At that, Shepard smiled.. as if in triumph. "Which provides us with an ideal opportunity." he said thoughtfully.. "It means we can investigate the Collector ship while the Kalinin interpret the message on the tablets."

"Mordin's had no luck?" Joker asked.

"None at all. Whoever made those tablets really did make sure that only Kalinin would be able to access the information."

"Alright. We're ready to approach. Give the call, Commander."

"Take us in, Joker."

* * *

EDI managed to contact the curiously named Lance of the Six Paths as they approached.. the ones responding being Nagato, with Shikamaru and Onoki filling in the background noise. Greetings were exchanged, and they eventually met face to face as Shepard stepped off the Kodiak alongside Mordin and Jacob, into the hangar of the aging ship. The first chance Shepard got, he told them what happened over the last few days.

Even though the Cruiser appeared to be severely understaffed, The Kalinin still managed to keep it running. Though noticing a fair small amount of jury-rigging along the way as they moved deeper into the ship. Nagato and the others sounded deeply concerned about the appearance of this "Madara Uchiha" as they called the person he encountered. It potentially meant that Madara's in control of Cerberus, or one of his so-called associates are.

The Kalinin were surprised about the importance of artifacts so alien, and yet with scriptures that they could read. Naruto helped carrying the tablets that Shepard brought along to their ship, with the help of several shadow clones, and into the room that the others quickly prepared for what seemed like a ritual of sorts, much to Mordin's fascination.

Naruto set down the tablets in the middle of a vast elaborate array of glyphs drawn on the deck.. either sides possessed large nodes which seemed to connect with each other and a triangular rune in which the tablets all stood. Naruto sat down on the left one, cross-legged and furrowing his eye-brows as he focused. Hinata went to sit down at the other node, both teenagers looked very nervous. But the others presence within the room did much to dissolve the tension.

"The connection should occur once the tailed beast Chakra mix together with the tablets. If we truly need Biju's to decipher those things, I guess this is how we must do it." Nagato noted calmly.

"Either that, or it's a trap. Can't know without stepping into it first. Such a pain." Shikamaru groaned, his face settled firmly into that of a frown.

"How long will it take to start this ritual?" Jacob inquired.

"They already have." Konan responded, gesturing to the floor.. "They are currently sending their Chakra through the glyph. But there's no response so far." she quickly observed.

"Attempting a more direct approach. Cover me!" Naruto said as a basic demon cloak formed around him. Naruto raised his arm quickly produced a Chakra arm from the cloak. The others watched as the Chakra limb lightly grasped the artifacts. A shudder ran through Naruto. "I'm getting a read, help me out here."

Shepard watched the ritual as it continued with interest.

"Yes." Hinata answered as she did exactly what Naruto did.. Forming the demon shroud before extending an arm of Chakra to embrace the tablets alongside that of Naruto. The tablets reacted almost immediately as it's faint internal Chakra signature interacted with the Demonic energies.

The tablets started to levitate off the floor.. Hinata quivered for a moment as if she just found something.. "It's like an ocean. A bottomless pit." she nervously explained to the others. "Commence dive?"

"Is it dangerous?" Shepard asked.

"Continue. Dive carefully and make of it what you can." Konan quickly instructed both Jinchuriki.

"O-okay." Naruto said and both his and Hinata's focus increased... something which affected the tablets even further, leading to something which none of them could have predicted. The artifacts seemingly broke apart as edges appeared, only to turn into thousands of tiny spikes of various lengths. The structures curled around each other even as the scribbles surrounding the tablets raced all over, crossing over the other tablets as all three interfaced with each others. And before too long, the three tablets turned into one solid flawless orb which remained hovering. The Chakra of the Jinchuriki still remained connected.

"What's happening?" Nagato asked, somewhat bewildered.

"It's no use asking." Shikamaru approached the glyph and stared into the eyes of his friends. "They seem to have fallen into some kind of trance."

"Damn. Keep watching them, I'll go get Onoki to come over." the other Shinobi continued before he walked out of the room.. Shepard's attention focused on the ritual. Mordin moved past him, seemingly to take a closer look while frowning.

Not waiting for what could happen, Shepard made contact with the ship. "EDI, have you made any progress in the scans of the Collector ship?"

"Yes, Commander. The enemy is completely shut down and are showing no reaction to intrusion. If my analysis are correct, it is currently dead in space." the AI responded.

"Good. It's time we pay them a visit."

* * *

The room was dark. And vast beyond knowing. The Jinchuriki were wading through this dreamscape, knee-high in a blood-like substance that covered the floor like a shallow but ominous lake.

"I did say we should not get horror vids. This is why. Why can't we ever go somewhere nice." Naruto asked, a rhetorical question. Hinata did not answer, only managing a slow gulp as they continued through the darkness until they stood before the orb And flanking it, much to their surprise.. the Kyuubi and the Sanbi. Both glaring down at the orb as if reading. The blank surface of the orb broken only by the appearance spiky protrusion that arranged into an alien-looking sign before dispersing a second later. One letter after another until it finished a sentence before the orb turned blank again.

Naruto felt her hand brushing against his, clutching it hard. He fought down a blush and looked up at Nine-tails. "So, this is what Madara meant? For you to decipher whatever this thing contain?"

The fox did not react at all.

The orb pulsed as the teens moved closer. The orb started to spin. They felt as if the orb watched their movements carefully.

Hinata gazed up at the orb, slowly activating her Byakugan and noticed what faint Chakra signature the object possessed suddenly increased. It's reacting to the presence of their minds.

Shrugging off the strange sensation, the two approached and placed their palms against it... not even aware as their real bodies fell into a sleep-like trance. A warm sensation pulsing through them as they dived further.

The vision within the orb was clouded at first, revealing the contents slowly. It felt strange. As if images and thoughts are being projected into their very minds.

It showed an ancient civilization, from a world which resources with very poor amounts of resources. The culture looked like a regime in which all usage of their limited resources were strict controlled. And with this, they developed differently than that of most other races. They attained highly advanced organic technology, but a seemingly permanent energy shortage left little possibility from reaching the stars. The environment and lack of resources made sure of that.

That was until the discovery a truly alien form of energy created from a newly invented organic structures at the time, which were integrated into their technology. They named it, Chakra. And with it, large scale energy production, and space travel by extension became a reality.

FTL though, was only gained from new innovations in the use of Chakra. These innovations were immediately apparent to the Kalinin even though they could barely think as the orb continued to press information into their heads. It reminded them of a transfer technique, akin to one of those which were often deployed by Kumogakure Shinobi. Using Chakra allowed them to manipulate the world around them to an astounding degree.

However, despite the inventiveness that their special FTL amounted to. It proved to be very inaccurate if the crews did not have a clear image of where they wanted to go. One such accident led them into contact with the only other space-faring species of that time.

Naruto faintly gasped. The species in question were none other than the Protheans.

However, the Makers... as the orb referred to them as, found very little in common with the Protheans, and unable to secure a common ground. They parted on what seemed to be cordial terms.

However, that was a false peace. Some of their worlds were visited by Prothean ships occasionally. Always a different world in every case. A century later a sign of treachery became known from a strange disease that had without notice spread through the majority of their populace.

Hinata pulled a pained cough as a horror pulsed through her... previously when she read through the extra-net. During one of her searches, she came across what was called the Genophage. The Protheans inflicted the Makers with a similar weapon. An atrocity. The Protheans seemed so benign from being largely friendly towards less advanced species, turned out to behave quite differently towards alien species that could potentially rival them.

The Makers built a fleet, but decided against waging a war. Unable to muster any kind of war efforts. They reluctantly accepted their fate without a fight after all the attempts at finding a cure produced no viable result. However, what grief they felt were lessened by an eventual discovery. A primitive but hardy species had been found, it's genetic codes very malleable. The Makers decided to have this young species carry on their legacy. To uplift them, give them strength.

The project lasted for centuries, the long life-span of the Makers giving them a wealth of time as they systematically took some numbers of the species population and experimented on their genetic code, which proved to be easy to shape under the right conditions. In the end gifting them with a spiral core.. a cocoon of sorts. Something which would, given time, though through thousands of years, gift them with a fully functional Chakra circulatory system. Something which they several times tried to implement into their own people, but failed. All to give them power unimaginable, almost literally at their finger tips.

But the elation at their success were brought short as the first Prothean ship they had seen for a long time entered their space. Not wishing to see the species under their care threatened. They destroyed the ship, but discovered from the wreckage that an unknown force had begun annihilating the Protheans methodically. Moon by moon, planet by planet, cluster by cluster.

From the images, of the black alien shapes hovering in the blackness of space, covered with eldritch lightning that pulsed across their hulls. A horror unleashed upon the galaxy, the Makers named these monsters; The Void Demons.

Mild migraine had begun to hammer the connected Kalinin at that point. There's much more information being processed than that most visible to them. The youths attempted to disconnect. But the orb did not let them, force-feeding them more data as the tale continued on without breaking it's pace.

The Void Demons were approaching, they had found out about the Makers and started moving in to kill them off. But fortune granted them thus, those going for the Makers appeared to be few and often scattered.

The Makers gathered a massive fleet. Using the powers which their Chakra powered technology granted them, they succeeded in destroying a lone Void Demon, though suffering massive numbers of casualties in the process. Finding out the creatures partial organic nature. A plan was hatched, a long-term plan which only the young species they were tending to could possibly set in motion.

The majority of their remaining population turned to the path of war to bolster the fleet. They successfully disabled a few more of the creatures and hauled them to their greatest forges, the bodies together were taken apart and used to create a single gigantic creature.. shaped like an animal... the visage of a Ten-tailed beast showing itself.

The Kalinin turned pale. The image of the legendary Jubi appeared as if before their eyes.

They integrated their technology into the genetic material of the massive construct. Sealed it away on a hidden special facility on the young species world. Letting it's Chakra pulse across the world, to help expedite the evolution of the natives Chakra coils. The indoctrination latent in the Void Demons were left on at low power.

In time, the natives growing abilities within the martial Taijutsu grew. And from the effects of indoctrination, a sort of immunity grew on them over the course of generations.. And eventually beings appeared, whom could project illusions, and similar effects. The beginning of the art of Genjutsu. A side-effect, but a desirable one.

The Makers became nearly extinct from the attacks which the Void Demons brought upon them. But following tens of thousands of years, a group of four managed to hide themselves away in stasis. Their work focused on watching over the natives of the chosen world, which went unnoticed by the Void Demons.

The evolution that the Makers intended for them eventually reached completion, but the future demanded that the natives develop along the path of war. And to facilitate that, they broke apart the Jubi's prison, and unleashed it upon the world. It's mind degraded to that of a beast, the Jubi could do nothing but to sow random acts of destruction.

To further facilitate the developing culture. They engineered the person whom would become.. The Sage of the Six Paths. Introducing Ninjutsu to the world, and empowered him to stop the Jubi in it's tracks. Using a certain technique; the Izanagi, to eventually split the Chakra stores within the Jubi. It's reserves had grown to incredibly heights, and used it to forge the Tailed beasts which would be given to the natives as weapons, most supreme. The husk of the Jubi was cast aside and hidden. Only one purpose left for it.

* * *

On the outside of the ritual. Konan were looking over the entranced youngsters with great concern. Shepard told Tali and Chakwas to watch over the Kalinin involved in the ritual before the Normandy detached from the other ship and started it's approach towards the Collector vessel. Chakwas currently scanning the entranced teens with her omni-tool.

"Are they alright?" Tali asked.

Chakwas shrugged.. "As far as I can see, their doing just fine. The only symptoms are no different from Shepard's case after the incident with the Prothean beacon back on Eden Prime."

"So they are sleeping, or what?" Tali asked in disbelief. Seeing the youngsters eyes' remaining wide open, staring emptily at the artifact. Completely unresponsive as she and the others tried to interact with them.

Jacob shook his head. "I believe it's part of the process. They're in the middle of a trance as you can see."

"Possibly. Help me over here, would you?" Konan asked, using a handkerchief to wipe away some sweat from Hinata's forehead.

Tali quickly offered her help. The two quickly going about to lessen some of the more physical signs of discomfort suffered by the entranced.

* * *

The teens continued to watch, despite their wishes to pull away. But the harder they tried to pull away, the stronger the hold which the orb exercised on them. Continuing to project further info into their brains mercilessly.

The plan set in motion by the scientists became a resounding success. The natives fortified their cultures into ones with strong military ideology, path of thought and tradition. Through and through a militaristic species.

Their task complete, the eventually three remaining scientists left the planet for the very reason for storing two of the artifacts away on distant worlds. They used crystalline materials for the artifacts' external shell, to protect the organic tissue within, which carried the data. The primary purpose of the Chakra coils within being to eventually attract the attention of the species they raised up to that point by the time they attain spaceflight.

Eventually, the orb stopped teaching them about the history of the Makers... much to the relief of the teens as they mentally slumped. Only for the orb to press information related to the plans which the Makers intended for the Kalinin to complete. Both Hinata and Naruto braced themselves.

But the plan within wasn't the only thing being revealed to them. It felt like trying to look into more than a dozen screens simultaneously and forced to snatch up every detail along the way. The largest "screen" contained the outline, the very core of what the tablets were for. All the other contained impressions, opinions, frustrations, hope, hate, greed, pride... and anger, overwhelming anger. Though the Makers accepted their inevitable demise, they did not take it without a great deal of pain. All of which were in the process of being projected into the young Jinchuriki's minds.

Naruto went in and out of consciousness during it all. The boy were mentally convulsing uncontrollably as the artifacts forced the information contained into them. He came to understand that all of the images and emotions were part of the whole process, to compel them into accepting their plan as the only one worth taking. Only the information remained spotless, everything else turned hazy. Their real bodies tilted in their spots, a groan of agony escaped Hinata's throat.

"What's happening?" Konan cried out as she tried to support the Hyuga.. upset at seeing the teens condition growing worse by the moment.

Chakwas seemed out of it as she yelled her replied.. "Abort the ritual, or whatever the hell you call it! Their beta waves are off the scale!" She ran towards Naruto and tried to pull him away.. Konan and Tali did the same with Hinata, but neither budged from their spots, as if glued. "What...?"

"Oh no. They have fastened themselves to the floor with Chakra." Konan informed her as she realized the cause.

"Any way to... ah?"

Naruto snapped awake, coughing hard as if choking on something. "We got it! we now know wha..." he called out in between coughs before the huge head ache caught up to him, causing him to faint on the spot.

Hinata awoke at the same time he did, but managed to speak no words as she fell unconscious.

Chakwas looked over the comatose teens and looked up to the others.. "Get them to the infirmary, stat!" her voice filled with urgency. The others quickly helped her getting the teens to the ships rather sparse medical facility.

* * *

Shepard and his team had finished preparing for the upcoming mission as the Normandy approached the Collector ship. Nagato offered some volunteers for checking out the unknown enemy which had been hounding them across nearly half the galaxy. A gracious offer which Shepard accepted. In the end, Shikamaru and Tenten decided to join the mission.

He and Garrus had to spend a bit more time than intended to equip the two others properly and get them familiar with the equipment. Re-breathers and kinetic barrier powered by flat modules that could easily be fit into backpacks. Heavily improvised as they did not have any armor that fits.

The boy nodded lazily as he checked the M-9 Tempest that they gave him. He seemed rather lazy, but his eyes indicated intense focus as he familiarized himself with the new equipment.

Tenten got herself an M-5 Phalanx. But the more curious aspect of her gear aside from the giant scroll upon her back from which she deploys her massive arsenal, she also carried along a long slim and elongated wooden case that looked about three feet long. When Shepard asked her about the contents of the box, she merely said that it's a surprise. The Commander did not expect it to be anything but some sort of primitive weapon.

They soon left the Normandy, speeding towards the Collector ship, which filled the whole view as they edged in towards what seemed like an opening in the ship's structure. "Alright, get ready. We are just here to investigate the ship, and find what we can learn from it. We go in and then leave. Be careful, that goes double for you two." he quickly briefed them, addressing the teens with a cautious gaze.

The Kodiak shuddered as it touched down within the enemy ship. Shepard and Garrus left the shuttle as they surveyed the immediate area, finding not the slightest sign of life.

"Let's go further in. Garrus, take point."

"Yes, Commander." Garrus replied, looking over his shoulder at the shuttle for a split second. "Come out, the coast is clear."

Shikamaru shrugged as he left the Kodiak, followed closely by Tenten.. "What a drag, but somebody have got to do it, I guess."

That comment resulted in the boy getting hit upside his head by the girl. "Be quiet, will you?"

It took a while before anyone commented on the surroundings as they went in deeper. The ship looked very similar to that of a hive. The interior design looked awfully chaotic, obviously the Collectors did not care about aesthetics at all. The surroundings filled with protrusions, ledges, cliffs, and turns that twisted in odd directions. It's as if the aliens had grown the ship instead of constructing it.

"Naruto told us that the Collectors are nightmarish to look at. I didn't believe him until now." Tenten nervously said, looking to the left and right as if expecting some sort of monster to pop out at every turn.

Shikamaru shook his head as if to clear his head.. "No kidding. It's even worse than what I imagined it to be."

"Stow the chatter." Garrus paused.. "What's that, across the chasm?" he asked, pointing towards a series of strange piles. No one could answer that question without going closer, which they inevitably did as the path was already leading them towards the objects of their current attention.

The moment they got close enough to see the piles clearly in detail, everyone involved wished that they hadn't seen the things in the first place.

There, they found a series of mounds filled by mangled corpses which because of the total absence of atmosphere within the ship had yet to decompose. Leaving the remains looking sickly and pale. The Collectors seemed to have experimented on these Humans, and subsequently dumped them. Revulsion filled Shikamaru as he gazed down into the nearby pit. It had been filled with bodies as well. And quickly told the rest not to look. He regretted doing just that himself.

"D-damn." Garrus mouthed, his mandibles shuddering in disgust.

They could almost hear Shepard grinding his teeth in anger. No one blamed him. "Come on." the Commander told them with forced calm.

They subsequently ventured through a series of other chambers before finally arriving at something different. A bizarre computer array stood before them, alien scriptures lining the screens that no one recognized. And none of them expected to be able to read the letters at all. The greater surprise waiting for them proved to be the presence of a dead Collector lying on what seemed like a table, connected to the computers.

"What were they doing to that Collector, why are they experimenting on one of their own?" Shepard asked.

Shikamaru wondered about that.. "Maybe it's genetics, trying to figure out how different your species are from their own?" he threw in, thinking about this experiment and all the corpses they found further back.

"What can you make of this, EDI?" Shepard requested of Normandy's AI, whom quickly entered the Collector ship's systems the moment Shepard found something that resembled an interface.

"Apparently, Shikamaru is correct about the nature of this experiment. But there is something even more amazing listed in these data banks about the genetic code of the Collectors." The AI responded.

"Such as?"

"There are one genetic match in our database." EDI paused for a full second, an eternity for an AI. "The Protheans."

Shepard and Garrus were surprised at that, as were those back in the Normandy whom listened in. The Kalinin responded more with confusion

"Er, weren't the Mass relays invented by them?" Shikamaru had felt needed to ask.

"No, that's the work of the Reapers, an ancient machine race. The Collectors are likely their servants. But I never imagined they would be Protheans." Shepard explained shortly before his attention turned back to the Collector.

"The Protheans are long dead, Commander." EDI insisted.. "The Reapers must have had manipulated the genetic makeup of the Protheans extensively to the point they no longer resembled their original form. Their current form is completely twisted. Their bodies function only thanks to extensive implants. A tortured form of slaves, sufficed to say. Punished for their resistance all those ages ago. Nothing but tools."

"I... I honestly believe we should head back out. I d-don't really like it in here." Tenten suggested meekly.. the new information given about the Collectors not only saddened her, but also terrified her.

"No, we push on. In order to eventually take the fight to the Collectors, we have to find a way to pass through the Omega 4 relay safely." Shepard told them.

"Calm down, Tenten. There have been no signs of the Collectors since we got here, except this one. Perhaps they all died when the Turians disabled their ship." Shikamaru tried to reassure the girl.

Tenten wasn't happy about it, but nodded slowly. "A-alright. I hope that to be the case."

"Stay frosty and move out. We won't be getting anything done just staying here." Shepard told them.

"Well said, Commander. Lead the way." Garrus rumbled.

The team moved slower now, across several more wide open chamber, one of them filled with stasis pods, most of which appeared to be empty. Moving on from there, they eventually encountered a road going uphill. It went on for more than seventy feet before the largest chamber yet opened before them. No, it was less than a chamber but a huge amount of empty space. The lighting here seemed to be plentiful. But the incredible size of this place wasn't what stunned the crew.. but that thousands upon thousands of stasis pods filled almost the entire surface area.

Shikamaru's eyes widened at this sight, rendered completely speechless through sheer disbelief. "T-this..."

"There are more stasis pods here than there are Humans in the Terminus systems." Garrus described.. staring at the scene around them with similar strand of terror, but had not yet lost his tongue.

"They are going to target Earth." Shepard said with increasing realization, his voice so cold that even ice would have frozen over.

"Commander, I am detecting the presence of a console up ahead." the AI blurted out through Shepard's link.

"Alright, we now know the stakes. We'll get the information, get out and blow this place to hell."

"Roger that." Garrus responded with a bit of a sneer. The group picked up the pace, going through the winding path until they arrived at a small circular space, with a console at the center of it.

"I don't know why... but I smell an ambush about to happen." Tenten murmured as they stepped into the small enclosed area, walls surrounding them on nearly all sides.

Shepard frowned as he stepped up to the console and started it up.. "Possibly. Stay alert."

"I'm in Commander. Now I just need to-" the AI was about to finish when the floor suddenly moved upward at a startling speed. Garrus ran to the edge and peered down.. realizing that they are standing on a platform. And looking up, he could see several platforms heading towards them, all crewed by Collectors.

"It's an ambush after all!" he cried out and ducked behind the console, which stretched far enough to the sides to function as a decent place to take cover as bullets began to strike the surface.. the rest being just one step behind him.

Garrus hefted his Sniper rifle and took aim, pulled the trigger and watched a Collector fly off the closest platform as a hole was opened through it's head. "Got one!" he hollered before he ducked into cover as a hell-storm of bullets started to rain on their position.

"Ah great! How about killing the rest of them while at it?" Shikamaru hollered back at him.

The platforms ventured closer and slowly attached themselves to the lone trapped platform and each other, creating a much larger one as a large number of Collectors advanced on their position. Shepard got up, and squeezed the trigger of his assault rifle, quickly gunning down the closest Drone. The last enemy platform attaching itself as he did so. Upon which two grotesque creatures resembling Husks stood.. More specifically, the monsters looked as though a number of Husks had been combined into one creature, with a large sickly bag of flesh sitting on their shoulders, both monsters glared menacingly at the intruders and let loose an attack.

"Whoa!" Shepard fell back as the a destructive wave of biotic power struck his cover. "Since when could Husks become biotics!"

"That's what's doing it?" Garrus shouted back, every bit as surprised as he looked above the cover and ducked just before another biotic assault passed over his head. "Damn!" he roared and brought up his rifle, firing two shots in rapid succession at two different targets within his immediate view.. dropping both Collectors down to the deck like two sacks of hammers. A third shot rang out, directed at one of the monsters, at the coast of his weapon overheating. The thing did not even wince and resumed the advance. "Tough as hell too!"

"Then we got to clear away the small fry. Attack on my mark." Shikamaru called out and made one simple hand sign, while he peered ever so slightly over the edge.

Shepard looked to the sides as the boys strange shadows shot past him and quickly parted into seven separate shadows tracking each it's target. "Kagemane no Jutsu. Success." the boy said as he slowly stood up to the Human's bewilderment.

"Wait, what are you doing?"

"Forget about that, Commander. We got a golden opportunity here!" Garrus cried out as he rose up from cover and opened fire. Shepard turned about to see seven Collectors standing up from their cover, mimicking Shikamaru's movements.

They all recognized the chance for what it is and opened fire, dropping all seven in rapid succession. Body after body crumbling as what little remained of their organic and inorganic bodily functions ceased. Once the last one was dispatched, the boy fell back into cover.

"Do it again, man!" Garrus called out, referring to the rest of the enemies.

Shikamaru shrugged.. "Yeah.. just give me a minute."

Further away, one of the Collector Drones nearby seemed as though it began to burst apart as it's carapace suddenly split into glowing furnaces of fire... "Assuming control!" it's voice boomed across the area. Shepard and Garrus shot the being in short order, but that did surprisingly little. "... The hell is that?" the Turian shouted as he ducked to avoid a biotic projectile launched by the abruptly upgraded Drone..

"As if I know!" the Spectre responded.

"You will not escape us this time, Shepard!" the Drone spoke, it's voice reminded Shepard faintly of that of Sovereign... it even knows him by name. It unleashed it's next biotic attack, striking the Human as he got up to shoot it and sent him flying. Garrus however threw himself in the way and managed to stop Shepard from flying off the ledge. Both watching as the Drone approached them, several more forming up behind it. Ready to charge.

Then it stopped mid-stride. "Got it! Hit it, Tenten!" Shikamaru cried out.. his shadow having stretched around several corners to get to this advanced Drone. Wondering what the girl might have to pose a threat to a creature that just shrugged off several mass accelerator rounds.

And what he saw, surprised him. Tenten had obviously been trying to implement a heavy projectile weapon. And ended up fashioning one of the crude and intensely rough variety. The weapon itself being at least six feet long, and miraculously hand-held. The projectile itself being four feet long, made almost solidly out of metal. Four elongated fins near the tip that curled around the central shaft, giving the tip a shape that looked like a drill of sorts. It looked like the love-child of an over-sized old-fashioned gun and a slingshot. But the implications of it made it in no way a laughing matter. Especially if the target are being held in place before it.

The case which she used to transport the weapon had been discarded. And because of the differences in size.. during the fight, she opened the box and quickly assembled the weapon before bringing out the ammunition needed for it from her scroll.

The weapon wielded by Tenten looked like nothing less than a complete overkill for anything less than a huge animal. A bona fide Harpoon launcher.

* * *

"Nothing yet?" Jacob asked the Doctor, whom had been tirelessly examining the sleeping teens since they arrived at the infirmary.

Chakwas shook her head.. "Nothing to report. It could be hours before they wake up."

The man sighed as he leaned back against the wall close to the exit. Konan went to fetch a few things while Tali had gone down to engineering at Kisame's request. Probably using this chance to get advice from an expert on how to run a ship efficiently.

Chakwas leaned over Hinata, checking up on the sleeping girl, about to turn away when the girl's eyes suddenly opened and stared directly at the Human to her surprise.

Hinata felt a rush of confusion.. a combination of her own terrible head ache and an equally disturbing voice that seemed as though it came from far away, coming steadily closer no matter what she tried to force it away.. 'Don't trust. Aliens will betray you in the end!'

"N-no, no." the girl whimpered as the voice became louder.

'Don't sleep. They're all alike!'

She squeezed a tears out as the pain became worse as she attempted to force the voice away. But the harder she tried, the more it surfaced until her eyes turned cold as steel and shot a hand up from the blanket that covered her at the Human, grabbing her by the throat.

'Kill!' the voice demanded.

A man entered her line of sight and fought to free Chakwas from the hand that threatened to crush her throat. The commotion quickly drawing additional attention, Hidan appearing soon after to help Jacob wrestle the Doctor free, whom breathed heavily as she collapsed onto the neighboring bed once they finally succeeded. Hinata managed to get up, sighting Jacob as her next immediate target.

However, she was brought short as Naruto suddenly came at her from behind and pulled the girl away and onto the bed. "No, Hinata! Don't give in to it! Focus on my voice, my voice!" the boy called out to her. Hinata wriggled in a confused fashion at first, but slowly gave in as she eventually turned around and buried her head into his chest, the boy giving her a comforting embrace. "I won't let it hurt you, alright?"

Hinata fell unconscious again amidst the calm that followed. The extensive mental exhaustion catching up to her again.

Naruto seemed like he's about to faint again as well, his grip on the girl loosening.. He tried to look up at the others, but failed to focus on any person in particular. "T-the plan... their plan." he murmured.

"What do you mean? What the hell did you see down there?" Hidan asked of him... the words unclear to Naruto's mind.

"E-eye.. of the gala... xy." he managed to stutter before his head fell down onto the bed.. losing consciousness before his body could even relax.

All three stared at the teens, especially at Naruto for what he just said. No one knew what to make of his words. But the faint sign of terror in his eyes told them one thing... that it can't be good.


	23. Chapter 23

Shepard stared at the resulting spectacle as Tenten pulled the trigger, and saw how the gun worked. The slingshot section launched the bolt while a shroud of Chakra around the rail caused it to spin with steadily increasing speed.. The shape of the projectile and the spinning motion making it all the more similar to a drill.

The bolt traveled through the air and unceremoniously ended it's magnificent journey by impaling the possessed Collector Drone through it's midsection, leaving a bloody mess of fluid, gore and implants to explode out of it's back in the harpoon's wake. The Drone died within a few seconds as something suddenly set it ablaze, turning the body into a cloud of ash in an instant.

"Tenten, conserve your bolts for the big ones. We'll handle the small fry!" Shepard shouted as the rest of the drones continued their attack despite the losses taken. The leading one got caught by a flurry of bullets from Shikamaru and collapsed with a high pitched gurgle as it tried to advance.

The others opened fire in turn, riddling several more of them with bullets, forcing the Drones to use available cover more extensively, leaving the Scions open for attack, too tall to hide their towering forms, but made up for it by hurling biotics at the intruders at every turn.

Tenten rose again and hoisted her harpoon launcher, took aim and fired. The bolt went true and gutted the organic sac on closest Scion. It seemed unaffected at first, until it attempted another shock wave. With key components to the process ruined, the effect backfired upon itself, destroying it in a luminous blue explosion, taking two drones that were too close with it.

Despite having lost their heavy weaponry, the Drones continued to fight. Garrus got up briefly and used his shotgun to blast a hole through his closest opponent. The other nearby Drones focused their fire on the Turian as a result. Allowing Shepard to advance and flank the Drones. Shikamaru did the same. All while Tenten finished off the last Scion.

The remaining Drones were quickly destroyed in the resulting crossfire.

"Gotten control of the platform yet, EDI?" Shepard asked urgently as he stood up, warily keeping an eye on the grotesque greater chamber around them with the hopes of no further enemy reinforcements.

The AI did not respond for several seconds. "I have gained control, bringing the platform back to ground level."

"Good." the Human responded with some relief as he felt the structure beginning to lower itself back to where it used to be when they first found it. "That was too close. I thought we had it too easy getting in all the way here."

"What's the status of the ship?" Garrus asked, looking at the 'ceiling' above warily. He thought he heard something.

"Heat emissions rising, Commander. The ship is coming back online. I suggest you evacuate as soon as possible." the AI responded quickly.

"Let's go then! I don't want to stay around here any longer!" Tenten shouted at them, she and Shikamaru had already begun moving, recognizing the urgency.

"I second that, let's move."

The group hurried along the path, and back into the chaotic tunnels that webbed throughout the ship. The first encounter with Collectors on the way were simple enough to take care of. But it seemed like wishful thinking jinxed them as a massive blast door closed itself before them.

"EDI, we need a way out!" Shepard shouted into the com link.

"The ship is performing a lock down, I will do what I can." the AI responded flatly, navigating through the Collector ship's systems, forcefully beating herself through every firewall she needed to get past.

Another door slid open next to them, and with no other path available, the team hurried through it. They had no choice but to approach it the long way around from the looks of it. And resistance grew at a constant rate along the way.

Joker worriedly watched from the Normandy as lights started to flicker on across the Collector ship's hull. "Hurry up, Commander! I'm reading that the ship will come online in no less than fifteen minutes from now."

"We _are_ hurrying, stay in position and alert the Lance of the Six Paths that they should get ready!"

"Roger that, Commander." Joker answered, wincing as the com link was filled with gunfire, punctuated by heavy thuds.

Tenten unloaded another bolt into the gut of yet another Scion that tried to stop the group, watching the thing collapse while the rest worked on dispatching the Drones and several Husks accompanied by Abominations.

Shikamaru himself felt really uneasy about the intense red color of the Abominations and shot the closest one, and watched as it exploded with sufficient force to take several nearby Husks down with it.

Their advance slowed down steadily, but the Collectors did not manage to halt them outright as they continued to progress through the winding tunnels, shooting down anything that tried to challenge them.

"You're getting close!" EDI told them as Shepard and the others entered yet another large room, complete with a nearby cliff. Two Drones appeared alongside a Praetorian. If the Scions were disturbing enough, that thing was even more-so. Two blue burning eyes, with a 'jaw' filled with a great number of heads that belonged to the Husks that were fused together to create the larger machine. It did not hesitate at all to move against them, albeit at a rather slow speed.

Shikamaru dropped himself down the slope and quickly positioned himself behind the closest available piece of cover.. a pillar. He put his palms together and shot his shadows around the cover and towards the two Drones that attempted to flank his position while his teammates focused on the monster.

Instead of normally binding the opponents, he instead used his shadows to bind the creatures and then extended the shadows around their bodies, breaking all the limbs he could manage before the taxing technique made him stop.. But he was quickly rewarded as he heard the broken bodies dropping to the floor. "These guys are such a pain." he murmured to himself.

The Praetorian however proved itself a much more difficult enemy with it's plentiful defenses. Biotic barriers and lots of armor. However, it's attention seemed almost fixed on Shepard. So he ended up acting as a decoy trying to outrun the beam of energy it tried to strike him down with.

Garrus himself resigned himself to shoot down the barrier with extended bursts of fire before Tenten would take over and shoot a harpoon at the exposed armor. One simply bounced off, two others ended up getting lodged in it's form. She set the fourth bolt into place and pulled the trigger, smiling with a measure of satisfaction as the oversized projectile managed to penetrate deep into it's shell. The Praetorian's movements quickly becoming erratic as the damage to it's shell increased, shooting recklessly in Shepard's direction before another sustained salvo from the three others finally brought the monster crashing to the ground. An event that coincided with the door in the far end of the room opening, revealing an additional pair of Drones.

But Garrus quickly shot them down with his sniper rifle so that the group could finally move on.

"Only a few turns and you'll make it!" EDI announced as the team ran through the narrow tunnel through several bends until they found themselves merely a slope away from the Kodiak.

But the place had been filled to the brink with Husks. There appeared to be hundreds of them, groaning, moaning and all around gurgling like a mass of zombies. A multitude of pale eyes glared at the team that froze upon the sight, but one of them recovered quickly.

"Damn it! I am not staying around in this piece of crap ship any longer. Go and die off, all of you!" Tenten shouted as fear made way for pure rage.

"And you think shouting are going to stop them?" Garrus asked incredulously at the girl's temper flaring up so intensely.

She responded, bluntly and simply by pushing the harpoon launcher into Garrus' arms as the horde of monsters began to rush them mindlessly. Tenten quickly hefting the large scroll on her back.

Tenten held onto the end of it before throwing the rest of the scroll, which unfurled as it arced through the air all the way to the other side of the swarm. "Take this, you misbegotten...!" she almost seemed on the verge of losing her breath over the string of expletives she brought up after that as she activated her technique; 'Manipulated Tools: Heavenly chain of destruction.'

True to it's name, most of the scroll's length covered by smoke as if from a firing line as a massive swarm of sharpened and blunt weaponry alike blasted down into the horde below. Bodies tumbled under the hail as they were shattered, torn to shreds, impaled, crushed and generally smashed asunder all Husks within the technique's area of effect, to the point that nothing could escape, even in death.

Once the smoke cleared, all of the Husks had been mowed down across the slope all the way to the shuttle in the distance under the mass of weapons.

"W-whoa... remind me not to get on her bad side." Garrus commented, impressed if nothing else.

"Noted." Shepard responded, he couldn't find the strength to be surprised by the carnage... it took a few moments before they resumed their run towards the shuttle. With only Tenten lagging behind, as she gathered a few of the weapons along the way while rolling up the scroll she used for the attack.

"Let's go, already!" Shikamaru told her as he grabbed the girl by the arm and pulled her on board the shuttle.. several more Drones emerging from the shadows far away from their position as the hatch closed shut, one of them having been possessed already.

"Kalinin." It began simply, watching the shuttle as it left. "Of all the countless thousands forgotten civilizations we have annihilated, only mere dozens managed to harness the obscure nature of Chakra for their use. But this." Harbinger spoke, more to itself than anything. "Is the first time beings have been discovered to harness that power within their bodily functions. It seems Nazara was right."

* * *

"Joker, fire up the engines. Go full speed once we're in! And EDI, sent a message to the Lance of the Six Paths, ask for fire support!" Shepard quickly turned to Garrus.. "Hurry to your station and power up the weapons once we get on board!" he quickly ordered in succession.

A chorus of affirmatives answered one after another.

The hangar door gaped wide open as the Normandy as a whole flared into life. The Kodiak turning sharply and boarded the Normandy as it began to move in short order. Shepard pushed his way out off the shuttle, not waiting for the hatch to open all the way, watching as the hangar doors were closed, and followed by Garrus towards the waiting elevator. Both Shikamaru and Tenten on the other hand chose to remain in the hangar.

"You're asking much." Onoki responded through the communicator at EDI's request.. "Alright, but we ain't coming any closer. Kurotsuchi, bring us about!" he continued, turning his attention to the reserve pilot for the duration of Shikamaru's absence.

The Normandy was already speeding away from the much larger ship, covering a massive distance in short time before banking left, preparing for a firing run.

The Collector ship slowly began to move as lights became more and more apparent across it's hideous hull. It turned very slightly towards the Normandy, it's weapon charging up.

Joker accelerated the Normandy greatly as they approached, with enough control to perform evasive maneuvers if need be. Garrus called in quickly, having arrived at his station in a monumental hurry and telling the pilot that the Thanix cannon's ready to fire. Something which basically told the pilot that the ship needed to be pointed directly at the enemy ship, that by itself wasn't the difficulty. The weapon that the other ship sported however, he still got chills when thinking back when they lost the SR-1.

The Collector ship opened fire, a glaring yellow particle beam blasting from the wide array in the front, lancing in the Normandy's general direction.. Which Joker only barely managed to evade as he aimed. "Garrus, got it lined up! Now would be a good time!"

"Roger that, firing." the Gunnery chief responded as a dull thump could be heard shaking the hull.

Joker thought it looked really beautiful for a split moment as a wide blue/white trail of molten metal raced towards the opposing ship, and struck with a mighty thunderclap.

"Heh, wonder if you truly need any help at all." Onoki called over the communicator at the spectacle as the burst from the Thanix cannon impacted with the Collector ship, gouging a deep wound through the ships superstructure. Explosions erupting across the length of the ship.

"We got it on the heels already, need one more shot to finish it!" Joker shouted through the intercom at Garrus. But whatever response he got was interrupted when a second beam streaked past the Normandy, barely a kilometer away from the Normandy's front.

"Where the hell did that come from?" One of the techs beyond the bridge exclaimed.

"Hell, I don't know!"

The old man called in again, gesticulating while shouting at the helmsman. "Watch out, up high!"

"What is it? Speak to me, people!" Shepard requested, having finally arriving as he moved to stand next to Joker.

"It arrived just moments ago, the Collectors have called in reinforcements from the looks of it."

"Your kidding!" Joker muttered as he now was forced to dodge the nasty beam weapons coming from opposite directions.

A second Collector ship had just arrived, joining it's heavily wounded comrade in the attempt to destroy Shepard's ship, hoping to drive the final nail into the coffin.

Static came over the communicator.. "I don't know about you, but I am not about to endanger this ship and it's crew with these odds. We are breaking off and leaving, and I recommend you do the same!" Onoki called in as the Lance of the Six Paths turned away from the battle, about to jump. But it seemed to be waiting for the Normandy before actually making that transition.

Shepard grit his teeth. So close to dealing a much needed blow against the Collectors. But now it was impossible to align for another shot as the two enemy ships kept harassing the Normandy. But as much as he wanted to destroy the already damaged Collector Cruiser, he had little other choice right now but to break off. "Joker, align with the Lance of the Six Paths' outbound vector and get us out of here."

"On it, Commander." EDI responded, as the pilot were busy enough dodging the energy beams of their enemy. It assisted him in getting the ship aligned amidst a brief gap in the enemy salvo's and with some sharing of target coordinates with the other ship, they finally made the jump. The Normandy vanishing from it's former position just in time as a beam came dreadfully close to gutting the Normandy like it did with their former ship.

The Collector ships drifted briefly, scanned the system.. ending with the fully functional one not pursuing the escaped vessels, instead drifting lazily around the damaged ship that for the time being lacked FTL capabilities. Small crafts began to transfer between them to conduct repairs. For now, they had lost the trail.

But Harbinger did not appear to be troubled. Inconvenient as the situation may be. The ship that arrived as per request reported it's former mission as successful. If it could possibly had smiled in triumph, even with it's lack of emotions, it would have.

* * *

"We barely got away in time, George. I got separated from Duran on the way here." Elena growled at George, she and her team had arrived at Zeus station just a few minutes ago and already began marshaling all the guards of the station to bring the Illusive man's plan of regaining control to fruition.

"But why are you taking command, Elena?" he did not understand.

"The Illusive man are under the control of a Kalinin, our command structure and operations have become compromised. We were waiting for the scientists to finish the restoration of one specific individual which belongs to that person.

George stared at the woman disbelievingly.. "What..? How did that happen?"

"Don't know. But he found a gap in it's defenses and alerted me." The door immediately before them sliding away as they entered the labs, a dozen guards following them in. "The Kalinin have been controlling him from the inside, like a parasite." She stopped fully before the security window that separated them from the cradle room where restored Kalinin are kept in stasis whenever they weren't needed. On the other side, the eyes of their possessed leader lazily gazed in their general direction, and smirked before turning back to the body before him.

"Open it! The imposter probably found out about our plan in advance, hurry!" Elena ordered, giving rise to the entire length of the wall rising from the floor. The cradle deck basically being a modified storage chamber. Elena and George watched as the man approached the body, and something snake-like spewed forth from his mouth and into that of the other, causing the body of the Illusive man to collapse. "Hurry!" she repeated.

The massive door slid open, the guards charging in immediately while the restored Kalinin got up from his bed, clothed in naught but a medical robe. But before they could all bring their guns to bear, the man leaped up to the roof and tore apart a panel leading into the ventilation ducts and escaped.

The woman cursed under her breath.. though relieved that their leader still lives. "Check his condition!" Elena told the others as she approached the Illusive man as he clumsily got back up on his feet.

"... Is it over?" their leader asked dizzily, looking as if he's on the border of vomiting.

"Yes, our personnel are in pursuit as we speak."

"Good. He must be stopped at all costs." The Illusive man gruffly spoke.

The medical officer stationed on the Zeus station arrived at the cradle to check the Illusive man's condition while Elena monitored the situation elsewhere on the station until static rippled through the intercom, causing everyone present to wince. "You found him?" Elena asked of whomever tried to contact them.

"He have emerged in the main hangar, approaching one of our shuttles. But several other Kalinin are fighting alongside him! You wouldn't believe the shit we're seeing, it's... A-ARGH!" the man cried out in pain and the line went dead.

"What happened?" silence.. "Do you copy? Answer me dammit!" Elena shouted with greater urgency.

"Ugh, our CO is dead." Another voice chimed in. "They've gotten away, I repeat they have escaped. For some reason several of our people have sided with them, covering their escape!"

George confirmed that too as he proceeded to the closest set of monitors and requested images from the hangar. Bodies littering the area, both writhing and not.

Elena ripped her communicator from her dress and threw it to the ground in an act of frustration.

"Calm down.. I guessed that something like this would happen, no matter what you tried." The Illusive man commented. "Now help me to my office. I need to contact Shepard, now."

* * *

The two ships stopped and changed path before jumping again at least two more times to make sure that the Collectors couldn't pursue them. And upon the next stop, Shepard finally received a signal from Cerberus.

"Took his sweet time." the Commander muttered as he brought himself to the debriefing room and opened the link, but once the holographic image established itself fully, a different office showed itself before him, a much more simple one. Lacking the decorations of the one at Minuteman station. The Illusive man himself looked less than comfortable, his clothes slightly ragged and his eyes showing signs of great exhaustion. No expensive drinks in sight and no cigar. Flanking the leader of Cerberus stood a woman he did not recognize, but obviously one which he trusted greatly. "What happened for you to come seeing me now after all that has happened?" Shepard called out, seizing the initiative.

"As much as I hate telling you this, I was taken over and controlled by a Kalinin whom organized Cerberus' latest operations and formed a team of recently revived and a few more that managed to survive the destruction of Kalin 3. And they have a plan in mind connected to the tablets. But I failed to find out exactly what it entails." the man's voice barely held together as he tried telling Shepard what had happened.

"We already have a pair of those under Nagato deciphering the tablets.. One of those you mentioned gave the artifacts to us once he and his associates finished extracting the information which the artifacts contain."

"An odd decision. Perhaps there are still a bond between those separate groups?" the woman next to the Illusive man; Elena asked.

"Don't know.. the one whom delivered the items seemed to hope that Nagato and the others would be enlightened by whatever is hidden on those tablets."

"Whatever that is, fact is that the wretched Kabuto got away along with his group. Several extremely dangerous individuals. Though they most likely are motivated by their species survival, their methods are most likely decisively different." A holographic panel appeared hovering in the air between the Illusive man and Shepard, displaying images of the individuals belonging to the escaped group, named included. Shepard read through them quickly:

Kabuto Yakushi.

Madara Uchiha.

Tayuya.

Zetsu.

Darui. (Control module installed)

Shino Aburame. (Control module installed. Experimental compatibility with modified Seeker swarms successful.)

"I have already ordered all available cells to begin the search for this group. But if there's a plan within those tablets, I'm afraid they will aim to complete it as soon as possible. That means that time is running out. Cerberus have taken a great amount of damage from the action of these Kalinin. So I am asking you to pull all the stops to stop them and the Collectors." the Illusive man informed him further.

"I won't rush into the unknown just yet, I need to know what the tablets contain first before deciding our the next step." Shepard told him.

"There is one more thing you need to know. Elena, tell him."

The woman sighed and regarded Shepard. "Recently we had to evacuate Kalin 3. It came under attack from the Collectors. We stayed just long enough to see them blast it's moon wide open and took the Jubi within for themselves. We don't know how they got the information.. But we believe Kabuto or one his accomplices revealed it to them some time ago."

Shepard did not realize that he was holding his breath while the woman revealed the recent occurrence.. "That makes no sense, why would any one of them provide those bastards with the very origin of the Tailed Beasts?"

"I don't know. We better hope your friends can answer these questions. Now, feel free to gather all those whom you believe should know. I can't see any reason not to at this point."

* * *

It took a full day after that briefing. Naruto and Hinata had apparently been successful in their endeavor to dig up all the information that the tablets contains. They just needed to wait for the teens to wake up again. Though still feeling uncomfortable from the aftermath of the 'dive', they understood the urgency of explaining what they had seen to the others far more than the rest.

Shepard had gone all the way. Nagato's whole group were invited to the Normandy and joined them within the briefing room, gathered on the left side of the room while Shepard and all his team members plus important personnel were standing on the right side. The young-nin appeared to be the only ones sitting.

A miniature hologram of the Illusive man hovered just inches off the far side of the table closest to the door. He sent a message to the Citadel containing all the information about recent events, and hoped that Councilor Anderson could attend, and felt quite pleased at seeing the holograms of the entirety of the Citadel Council standing on the opposite side of the table.. the Turian seemed rather impatient, warily looking at the Shinobi. While Anderson busied himself staring at the Illusive man, whom did his best to ignore the Councilor.

The atmosphere felt extremely tense, no one dared to move... even those watching from very remote locations noticed it. Everyone turning their attention to Shepard as the Commander placed his hands on the table and lightly leaned against it.

"Everyone is here then, you have all been called together so that we may finally all know what the tablets, intended for the Kalinin, contain. It is time we get the answers for questions that have been left unanswered for far too long. Naruto, Hinata. Please tell us what you've found on the artifacts. What do they say?"

The teens hesitated.. with Naruto being the first one to lift his gaze to nod. "What it contained, was something of great importance. It's roots leading back in a great civilization that existed fifty thousand years ago.. A species that existed at the same time as the Protheans. The Makers."

A distinct murmur arose form the councilors, as if discussing amongst themselves.

Naruto began to tell the history that the tablets revealed to them. With Hinata joining in after a couple of minutes, to fill the gaps. The evolution of the Makers. Their struggle to climb into space, their technology, their history with the Protheans, their discovery of the Kalinin.. the establishment of a legacy, and their final downfall at the hands of the Reapers.

The Turian and Asari councilors didn't look particularly pleased. Especially with the latter detail. None of them, except Anderson believed in that threat even now.

Many tried to raise questions or protest.. in particular Mordin and the Illusive man, for each their separate reasons. But those inquiries were quickly quelled so that the Kalinin could continue with the story. Gradually switching to telling the side info that existed along with the plan.

The plan took shape as the surviving Makers continued to manipulate the Kalinin's evolution. But finalized only as they discovered key components of the Reapers influence over the galaxy.

The remaining Makers were numbered four. Three scientists, the fourth being their equivalent of an engineer.

A holographic map of the galaxy was shown above the table, tilted so all could see what Hinata pointed towards. The Engineer found out about the Collectors, simplifying their plans for the future.

Icons flared up across the display, three dozen dots surrounding the Galactic core.

Chakra relay stations, vital to the completion of their plan. But one alone is sufficient. The Demonic statue of the Outer path was designed to work as the reactor of that station.. and only required two Tailed beasts to activate. The Engineer used the last of what industrial capacity remained to him, to have those stations grown and summoned into position. That many were built in order to increase the chance of at least a few avoiding detection and surviving until the time comes.

They continued to explain, seemingly becoming increasingly awake as they went on. As if telling everyone else eased the migraine that had started to plague them in the aftermath of the investigation.

From there it was necessary for the user of the station to be capable of using Izanagi. Which led to the engineering of the separate families that became the Uchiha and the Senju.

The last piece necessary being to bring the Jubi into position, to serve it's final function. For the plan to work, the machine needed to be brought to the center of the galaxy... a part which was simplified by the existence of the Collectors.

The fully operational station would increase the power of Izanagi by several orders of magnitude. By using Izanagi, which the station will then project into the galactic core, and use the enormous Chakra storage within the Jubi to create the true manifestation of the plan which Madara believed to be of his creation alone.

It's true form; The Eye of the Galaxy. All of this would create the ultimate Infinite Tsukuyomi from the Jubi.. The process will also use all other forms of energy along with what raw materials exist within the area of effect to create a lens that will maintain the Jutsu perpetually and extend it's reach to even the most distant fringes of the galaxy. Casting a Genjutsu upon the entire galaxy, uniting all under one banner.

The banner of the Kalinin. The only ones it wasn't intended to control.

They could then mobilize the civilizations of the galaxy without an ounce of resistance to create the single greatest armada the galaxy have ever seen and annihilate the Reapers through sheer overwhelming attrition.

But even if the threats are successfully destroyed, the Genjutsu would remain to keep all races in line. Plainly the Makers intended to ensure that the species they chose will rule the galaxy.

For all eternity.

Most of those gathered in the room was slowly turning pale. A plan so incredibly ambitious, but made sense in how to destroy the Reapers, unfortunately at the cost of the freedom of all the people of all the current civilizations, and all that may come after.

Unacceptable. And by the end when the meeting was finally over.. the decision was almost completely unanimous among all that had attended.

The plan had to be stopped. The Council disconnected with the promise that fleets would be gathered to attack as many of the Chakra relay stations as possible in pursuit of Kabuto and his ilk.

The Illusive man provided a destination for Shepard. In theory, an IFF is needed to be able to pass through the Omega 4 relay without risk and provided the location of a Derelict Reaper, which a team of Cerberus scientists had tried to investigate and study some time ago, but stopped reporting in around the time when he lost control of his organization. Meaning that Shepard had little choice but to investigate it personally.

The mission appeared to be simple. They needed to get the IFF, launch an assault against the Collectors and remove the Jubi from the galactic core.

The Illusive man would scrounge together what remained of Cerberus' fleet assets in order to support the Normandy. Initially, he intended for Shepard and his crew to take down the Collectors by themselves. But now, he could not afford holding back anymore.

Both fronts would be essential. And one of them have to succeed. Failing meant the death of freedom.

And with that final note as Shepard watched the crowd funnel out, analyzing the expressions that some of the Kalinin sported. Several looked completely rigid, believing the plan to be an abomination. But a few, he noted, carried conflicting emotions.

The Commander grimaced as the briefing room eventually became empty and sat down. Letting all the information he had leaned through this meeting pulse through his mind. Finally a set of leads, and information about where to go.

* * *

Six hours later, both the Normandy and The Lance of the Six Paths already found their way to Hawking Eta cluster.

Quiet discussions went on and on within the Kalinin's ship. Specifically within it's mess hall.

"Those Makers sure went a long way for our well being." Mei stated in her curiosity.

Naruto shook his head.. "But they did it without our consent in the end. Our civilization became what it is thanks to them. They have given us a lot... but this? To enslave a whole galaxy, is that supposed to make us feel better?"

"W-why do we fight for the other species though...? They either want to use us, or destroy us." Hinata carefully asked, the girl looking down at the table upon seeing the shocked expression of the others.

"That's simply because we have had poor luck so far." Mei tried to reassure the younger girl.. "There are good people among them, like Shepard. His crew, Viviana, Anderson and Aria."

"I k-know. But these voices..." Hinata trembled, moving a hand to her chest as if she ached inside. "They fill my heart with so much doubt."

"I have been getting those too, Hinata. But try to ignore them. They are simply voices of those whom drowned themselves in hate, those that have long since passed away." Naruto told her, folding an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. Mei leaned back from the table and picked up her empty cup, calling for some more of the sake-like beverage from the storage. Konan was the one who brought them the drinks, but she currently seemed unable to cater to the request, having already fallen asleep after having had one drink too many.

Hidan whom simply listened to the ongoing conversation all this time got off his chair and prepared to go back to the grueling work in the engine room. Over the recent times, he grew increasingly thoughtful about the events in the world around him. And he was not sure what to make of all this. He briefly thought about the old days, when he used to be nothing more than an obnoxious religious killer. Heck, he even missed his constant arguments with Kakuzu.

One thing's for sure...

"Hey, if you're done standing there like a slack-jawed idiot, I could use some damned help!" Kisame growled at him from the far end of the hallway.

Hidan shrugged.. screw thinking. Back to work.


	24. Chapter 24

Rear Admiral Mikhailovich wasn't pleased. An opportunity some would call it, a force like this wouldn't be assembled for no reason. But that was also precisely why he did not like it. The major battle at the Citadel showed much of the fact that there's much bigger fish out there in the galaxy.

Several flotilla's from all Council races had been called in, including his own 36th Scout Flotilla to form several pinpoint strike forces with the purpose of hunting down and destroying what Councilor Anderson referred to as Chakra relay stations before forwarding all the information that could be given, under the veil of strict secrecy.

The information given he found difficult to believe, but considering that it came all the way from the top. They may have found sufficient evidence. At least, he hoped so.

Rejecting those thoughts from his mind, he turned his attention down at the status displays that filled in above the galactic map in his ship's CIC. His corner of the fleet consisted of no less than five Cruisers, one Carrier and four wolf packs, each with four Frigates apiece. The rest were formed by a mix of Asari, Turian and Salarian ships of all classes. Though there appeared to be only one Dreadnought present, the massive Destiny Ascension. Overall, his screen displayed four dozen icons across the chart.

"Sir, there's a general broadcast being sent out. It's from the Ascension." one of the techs called out to him.

"Open a channel." Mikhailovich responded, more gruffly than intended.

"-epeat, all ships, forward scouts have confirmed the presence of the relay station in this area located within the local asteroid field. All crews man battle stations and tread cautiously. We are dealing with remaining tech of the species that gave the Kalinin their strength. Take all precautions before engaging. I wish you all good luck, Anderson out."

"Orders?" the same tech asked.

"... You heard him. Man battle stations, strengthen forward barriers. Release safeties and power up all weapon systems." the Rear Admiral quickly ordered. The surrounding fleet assuming formation. A rather loose wall formation with enough space to spare to allow the ships within to maneuver. Frigates upfront and the Ascension in the back.

Imagery already started flowing in. Salarian information gathering already hard at work. Not hesitating at all to transmit all new info across the cross-species fleet.

What appeared on the screen appeared to be the silhouette of a shape that looked like an very lumpy caricature of an orb.

"It's very deep within the asteroid field. Signal the SSV Edvard, tell them to prep their fighters."

A collective gasp drew his attention back to the viewing board as something happened, the image updating. The object on screen suddenly dividing into two dozen distinct objects that were accelerating on an outbound trajectory away from the station, which now lesser shape changed into that of an oval until it split in two.. the now crescent moon shaped object left behind as the other half followed the other objects.

"Figures, the station's defenses are huddled up all around it." he muttered.

The path of all of these new objects indicating that they are all heading to intercept the combined fleet before them. And as they cleared away from the asteroid field, the images became much clearer. And the Rear Admiral was taken aback almost immediately by the view.

The three ships furthest in front resembled a starfish that had been in hell for too long. Flat, and with all arms bent at left angles, then right further across the arm, then left again. It was dark brown in color and seemed very fragile to the eye. He had no idea how that craft could be counted as a combat vessel.

The majority of the others were arranged in two elongated bulbous sections, with a drill shaped tract passing all over it almost from the nose and all the way to it's back. It had no noticeable propulsion systems. Come to think of it, neither did the former.

And apparently, as he noted, the Salarians seemed to be already hard at work making observations and theories. Their interest apparently piqued.

They believed the drill shaped tracts are filled with what may be hundreds of vernier thrusters, judging by the lines all across that tract. This led the ships to lazily spin as they advanced.

The last one furthest in the back of their formation seemed like the oddest one of all. In particular cause no one could tell what classification it fit into. Though bets were on Dreadnought, Carrier, Command ship or something else along the lines. It seemed to be permanently tilted to the right, giving it a rather diagonal shape. The top side of the ship covered in one massive shimmering carapace with what seemed like slits for eyes in the oddest of locations. The surface on the other side obscured by the carapace and it's odd tilt. It also possessed a fairly elongated jagged tail with the same drill-like tracts across it. It faintly reminded Mikhailovich of a Horseshoe crab he once kept as a pet back when he was ten.

The Rear Admiral involuntarily swallowed.. something which he hoped no one else noticed. They were truly going fight something of unknown quantity.

"So these are-" a pause.. "-Maker ships."

* * *

'You cannot trust them. They will turn on you!' the voice scraped at the inside of her mind. It felt painful, as if something is trying to burst her head apart.

"Shepard and the others are friends, they saved us!" Hinata whispered into her own mind. "Without them..."

'They only care about your powers. To cast you aside once they learn.'

"No!" she shouted, finding herself blurting it out for all within earshot to hear. She opened her eyes and rediscovered that she still remained in the room which they had turned into a shrine as close to the likeness of those they used back home. A pang of relief washing over her features.

"You let the voice come at you again?" Konan stiffly asked her, placing a palm on the girls left shoulder rather heavily. "Clear your mind! If you have to think, focus on good memories. Anything to keep you relaxed."

"It's so forceful." Hinata whispered, her gaze drifting to the floor.

"Be strong. Naruto suffers the same, but he have successfully ignored the fiend."

Naruto, whom stood behind them, leaning against the wall, broke his silence. "Having had to deal with the Kyubi many times. I believe that may have something to do with it." he mentioned.. "The Sanbi are less aggressive, and much less malevolent."

"That is basically the crux of the matter, Hinata. You have never dealt with such an intrusion before." A sigh. "If only some of the Yamanaka were still alive, we could have tried a mind link." Konan shook her head slowly before looking at Hinata, who's gaze was still fixed solidly upon the floor panels.

"Y-yes." the girl nodded.

"Let's try again."

Hinata took a deep breath as she tried to meditate. Emptying out her thoughts slowly, to let an equal amount of light and dark embrace her. A whisper came from the distance... the girl shuddered, forcing her thoughts someplace else before the voice could return. She ended up in the dream where she saw Kiba advance against the Geth for the final time... she herself too injured to help back then. The voice cried out. She shut it out, forcing the thoughts over to something different. Forcing her mind, recalling several years back. There was a festival, she enjoyed a cinnamon roll.. Hinata had nearly forgotten how it tasted like. She craned her head back to see the face of her father smiling down at her. How she missed her family-

'Stop dreaming!'

Her thoughts shattered and nearly crashed forward into the floor, the fall broken as Konan intercepted the girl, holding her close while Naruto came from the other side. His eyes filled with concern. "I'm s-sorry!" she whimpered, ashamed of her own weakness.

"Don't worry about it. It will take some time, but as long as there is a will, there will always be a way." Konan quickly comforted her.

"I won't g-give up." she stated.

Not saying a word, Naruto simply smiled at her in a comforting manner before going back to where he stood previously and continued to watch.

Thankful towards them, Hinata got back up and sat back into a proper position and focused once again. The girl quickly became startled.

"We are here. Just focus and relax." Konan told her.. "Find the calm within you, and flow with it."

* * *

The body crashed to the deck, several gun-wounds covering it's blue marked armor. Zetsu's glare settled upon the being, a Salarian. A taste of disappointment upon his tongue before he turned away lazily to oversee the carnage which had unfolded.

"They talk big... but their bite's weak." he muttered, more to himself while another figure approached him.

"They bit hard I'd say. To dare attacking us like that.." Tayuya noted.

"What did you expect? They demanded payment with interest for losing so many people during the attack on the Migrant Fleet. And yet Kabuto refused. No wonder the Blue Suns got angry."

Tayuya kicked a corpse by her feet, flipping it over. The alien, still breathed, faintly. She knelt down and shoved the barrel of her gun against the side of the being's head.. hearing a few begging words coming from the wounded Batarian as she prepared to relinquish a single bullet into his skull. If not for a hand descending upon her shoulder.

"Shoot and we'll have less minions." Kabuto whispered dangerously above her. The girl quick to withdraw her weapon. The man promptly let go and shuffled past towards the railing.

"The only reason I agreed to meet with them, was to acquire more bodies for the operation ahead." he continued, looking over the large hangar of the Cruiser where they needed to meet with the Blue Suns. The decks below and above playing host to many prone bodies. Madara and Darui walking across the area below, and looked over his shoulder at the approaching Shino, whom said nothing even as Kabuto turned to approach the leader of this particular troop.

"D-damn you, monsters!" the wounded Asari gasped, her eyes filled with rage.. but too weak to do anything to mimic her emotions.

Kabuto knelt down and flipped the wounded body over her protests and motioned for Shino to approach. "Do it."

The Aburame carried a large pot along, which opened suddenly as the order came. Seeker swarms launching from it. One of the small insects hovered towards the Asari. And Kabuto seized the crude bug and placed it on the Asari's neck, watching as the bug began to dig into her flesh.. eliciting painful cries as the alien tried to flail it off her. Screaming that quickly ceased as the insect nested itself around a section of the alien's spine. The upper part of it's carapace visible as a lump breaking her otherwise flawless indigo skin.

Kabuto stood up and stepped back as the body got back up and slowly turned towards him. "Excellent." he whispered with a heartfelt feeling of satisfaction. "Do the same to the other Blue Suns, let them join as the Cerberus personnel with us did before."

Shino said nothing, The insects spreading, rapidly beginning to infest and take control of the defeated beings while the others watched with mixed feelings.

"It was hard, even for Lord Orochimaru to perform stuff like this. How you came to master this..." Tayuya spoke up at last.

"A trick gained from studying what Cerberus researched. A Human Corporation called ExoGeni happened upon a unique plant entity called the Thorian a while ago. Modifying the Seeker swarms to perform like this proved easy with samples of Thorian seeds, and sufficient information and equipment." Kabuto explained with a grin.

The girl seemed to nod slowly before she turned and promptly got out of the way once Madara arrived. "You sure learned many tricks from that bastard Orochimaru."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Kabuto quickly sneered.

Before they could continue any further.. Zetsu invaded the conversation. "Now that we have gotten even more slaves... where are we going now?"

"Where else?" Kabuto brought up a pad in his hand and lifting it for all to see.. a galactic map popping up as he activated it. A large number of dots becoming visible around the galaxy.

"To the Chakra relay station most available to us. Take control and usher in a new age. Would that be satisfactory to you?"

Zetsu opened his mouth to speak, but closed it. Slowly deciding to nod as he saw the dot on the map the map, which Kabuto gestured towards, within the Terminus Systems.

* * *

Kisame watched the readouts from the engines warily.. They had finally reached the place in which the Derelict Reaper persisted. The status of the machinery looked stable. He advised against bringing the Lance of the Six Paths closer to the brown dwarf, he doubted the ship could withstand the extreme conditions within it's atmosphere. Onoki and Shikamaru fortunately agreed. Volunteering the ship for sentinel duty while the Normandy headed in, being much better suited for the task ahead.

"Where are they...?" a voice spoke up, almost making Kisame jump in surprise. He turned to see Kurotsuchi and Tenten entering the engine room.

"Who are you talking about?" he asked, half annoyed at being distracted from his duties.

Kurotsuchi gave him one of the harder glares he ever witnessed, though he told himself that Konan's much more impressive. "Where's Hidan?" she asked of him.

"Haven't seen Mei either, come to think of it." Tenten added, frowning as she turned to Kisame.. "I could not find her in the mess hall. She spends most of her time in there after all."

Kisame stood there, blinking. Since when did he get saddled with the task of being a personnel map. "If they ain't on the ship, I guess they volunteered."

"Volunteered for what?" Kurotsuchi angrily demanded.

With a tired sigh, letting his eyes drift briefly towards the screens before focusing back on the girls. "You're not aware?" he asked.. suddenly blinking as if reminded of something. "Hey! Wasn't Naruto supposed to get the malfunctioning speakers back online?" he muttered as he made to storm past the girls before Kurotsuchi stopped him.

"Oh, no you don't! Where are they?" she nearly yelled at him.

A frustrated groan. "They probably joined Commander Shepard to investigate the Derelict."

"Why? I'm his bloody mate for crying out loud, don't I get to have a say?"

Both Kisame and Tenten were taken aback by this. "Wait, so the rumors of you and Hidan doing it recently is true?" the man asked, Naruto momentarily forgotten. The word had gone round... since it originated with Mei, he believed it was nothing more than idle gossip.

"Duh! Yeah, I'm pregnant." Kurotsuchi flatly replied.

"Wow, congratulations!" Tenten chimed in.

Kisame let out a chuckle, his frustration drowned away for the moment. "Well, what do you know? I did not think that Jashinist had it in him!"

"Explains why Onoki have spent all his time sulking in the bridge lately." Tenten giggled as she recalled seeing him the day before, sitting in a distant corner while Shikamaru and every one of Nagato's paths stared at him as if to burn the image into their brains.

"Seriously though, is he going to be OK?" Kurotsuchi drove straight to the point, even more annoyed at the change of topic, though deep down she appreciated it.

"He getting out alright? Miss, we are talking about a man who could probably survive a planetary collision." he was massively exaggerating Hidan's ability to survive, but he could not help himself. Nothing was like going over the top when push came to shove.

"How about Mei? I'm worried.. she always seem so, elegant and delicate." Tenten voiced her thoughts.

"Girl, she was the Fifth Mizukage. The highest position of her village. Four elemental styles mastered and two Kekkei Genkai. Both even more useful in enclosed quarters, I pity the enemies that tries to take that woman on." Kisame noted with a grin. "Out of everything that she is.. weak ain't one of them."

Tenten nodded slowly. It seemed to put her more at ease.

Looking between the two girls as silence sank over the engine room... or as little noise as such a quarter of a ship could attain, especially one as old as this one with all the noise it makes. The man slowly pushed himself past them, they let him go this time much to his relief. But one thing made him chuckle to himself. The fact that Hidan and Kurotsuchi were the first to get it on... it sounded impossible, but it was in fact more possible than he could have imagined. He always thought Naruto and Hinata would manage to do it first... or Konan and Nagato for that matter. The thoughts remaining in his mind for a second longer before he dismissed them as he paced through the ship, heading directly towards the shrine. Where Hinata still continued her mental training. Believing that to be the most likely spot to find Naruto right now. The man shouted the boys name down the corridors so loud that he could have woken up the dead.

And for a moment. He wished he could have done just that.

* * *

The pressure door eased aside as the team entered. The ship attached to the Derelict was deathly silent. Only the noise form confused reports on the computers across the ship, and the occasional bloody walls, floor and equipment that they found along the way. Moving on, Shepard opened the final door that allowed them entrance onto the Reaper. A dark twisted maze of metal stretching into the distance visible to them.

Quietly he stepped out, the footsteps of those with him following suit. He could feel the strange noise coming from inside his head. Damn. Is this indoctrination? It ran the point home that there may not be any living thing left in this place. As if the empty Cerberus ship wasn't making that clear enough. But the scientists and workers managed to erect scaffolds that functioned like a viable path to walk. Cause the rest of the ship offered very little passable terrain in comparison.

Some mild lighting provided some measure of comfort. At least they would not need to fight in the dark if it came to that.

"Forget about the Collectors. It is as though we have stepped into hell itself." Mei Terumi spoke as she followed Shepard. She had along with her comrade been fit with a shield generator, which she carried on her back. And a breathing mask. Base necessities as oxygen levels within the ship appeared to be very low.. Only six percent at this point, according to Mordin whom came along as well. The other Kalinin, Hidan, growled in irritation at the metallic monstrosity around them.

"You feel those ringing noise?" Shepard asked.

"No. Don't fucking hear anything. It is as though this monster have been coated in death." Hidan muttered angrily as the team went along on the path before a groan could be heard coming from behind.

"Husk!" Shepard called out as he hefted his rifle. Damn, it appeared directly behind Mei. "Get out of the wa-" he stopped mid-sentence as the Husk suddenly exploded away from her. No, 'exploded' appeared to be the wrong word. The melted Husk fell off the scaffold and vanished. Mei did not seem troubled.

"Acidic readings spiking!" The Salarian let out a alarmed response.. before he calmed down again.. "It's decreasing."

"Heh, you forgot? She got boil release." Hidan laughed.. "The corrosive vapor she can produce makes a melee assault a ticket to the afterlife." he raised his scythe and pointed ahead of them. "Heads up!" and threw the weapon.. flying gracefully through the air before embedding itself into another Husk, which quickly collapsed to the deck. A dozen more climbing into sight further away.

Mordin acted nonplussed as he deployed a tech attack and incinerated the next husk attempting to rush them.. the creature not able to even get past it's impaled 'comrade'.

"Only Husks.." Shepard mentioned before motioning for the rest. "Form a firing line, advance and bring them down!"

A firing line, a basic strategy that have spelled certain doom for many a cavalry charge and wave assaults since the dawn of firearms. Although only one had a rifle, and the rest sporting pistols, albeit heavy ones. They relentlessly began to gun down the horde as they advanced. Hidan picking up his scythe from the corpse it was stuck in before continuing the advance, and eventually spearheading the assault, his gun blazing. Some of the faster Husks climbed in ahead and bull rushed the group.

Hidan was right in his element.. although like a glove that did not quite fit. He gunned the head off the first one that came close. Spun to the left and cleaved the second one at the waist and span back to the right, knocking the monster over by the butt of his weapon before quickly lining up his pistol again, to deliver a coup de grâce on the fallen synthetic.

Another one attacked him.. but before the creature could bring it to bear, Mordin froze it solid with a cryo blast. Smirking at the help, he thrust his weapon forward and shattered the enemy into pieces.

"Thank you. Your alright, man!" he offered, though technically it wasn't necessary.

The last few Husks were quickly dispatched, allowing the team to continue through the maze. Only to be intercepted close to a corner on the way as several more Husks began to crawl out and draw themselves at their full heights before charging. Only they did not get the time for it. The first one's head evaporated as a bullet punched through it. And the other suffered a similar demise.. quickly perishing under the withering sniper fire before Shepard and his team could do anything.

"There are someone else here." Shepard whispered as they continued to the bend and with a small mirror Mei carried on her person.. He used it to look around the corner.. and seeing nothing in the distance. He motioned for them to move. The Commander did so first, followed quickly by the others.. half expecting bullets to rain over them, but nothing came.

"That was anti-climatic." Mei slowly whispered as they approached a chasm ahead. And she, just like the others were shocked by what they found.. hundreds, no, maybe thousands of Dragon's teeth littering the area. Arranged like a sick altar.

"Mystery solved. Dragon's teeth..." Mordin said, inhaling briefly. "Reaper tech."

"I'm guessing those working here ended up becoming indoctrinated and threw themselves upon the Dragon's teeth." Shepard theorized, bitterly at that.

"What's this?" Hidan asked.. pointing at the opposing wall... coated in blood as if to convey a message.

"It reads..." Shepard stepped closer... "Even dead gods can dream." he whispered quietly.

"As if things could not get more ill boding." Mei replied with disgust. A sentiment that got a reaction as more groaning announced the arrival of more Husks. They turned around, seeing what must be a hundred of the creatures having come up. A Scion appearing behind them.

"Oh crap!" Hidan raised a gun and shot the closest monster through the head. And like a dam breaking, the flood surged forward.

"Run!" Shepard called out and the team ran with all haste down the corridor next to the chasm, just coming to another pressure door. "Damn it. Keep them at bay, I'll have this open in a bit."

A chorus of affirmatives called out, almost instantly drowned by the groaning of the dead that came in after them. A trio of guns blazing in unison, several metallic bodies crashing to the deck. There was no cover at all.. things could get truly nasty if the Scion showed up.

"Get that damned door up!" Hidan cried out, even though he and the others were dropping Husks like a bad habit.. the swarm kept pushing forward and constantly came closer. Then the Scion showed itself, ready to unleash an attack. A click could be heard.

"There, the door's open! Come on!" Shepard shouted for the rest to follow, whom did so with all speed they could muster away from the advancing horde. They came out to a far more open space.. however still lack-luster when it came to the scaffolding.

The group whirled around and lay down suppression fire as the Husks rushed out after them, dropping a dozen before attention was drawn to several fuel cells stored up close to where they came out. And Mei seized the initiative. She shot one of the fuel cells repeatably until the container was breached and the fuels within caught fire, with explosive effect. Shepard and the others stumbled back as the fuel cells violently exploded, taking the majority of the Husks down with it.

Motivated by this success, they dug their heels in and shot as much as they could while preventing their guns from overheating. Blasting heads and limbs away from the remaining creatures.. watching those bodies collapsing to the deck until the greatest enemy in this battle; a Scion, entered the scene. Powering up for a biotic blast.

"Take cover!" Shepard sidestepped into the cover of a crate. Mordin doing the same.. Mei ducked behind a panel while Hidan, finding no cover simply threw himself down the closest ramp. But.. the blast did not come, instead, a shot rang through the open space as the top of the Scions head vanished.. another bullet punched through the organic sack it carried upon it's back and shoulder.. then it's abdomen.. then an arm. And another one through the chest. The construct stumbled back from the barrage that hammered it, until tumbling over the railing behind it and fell.

"What happened?" Hidan cried out, still on the deck, covering his head.

"I don't... There!" Mei shouted, her voice increasing in volume as she pointed out a figure standing far above them, her eyes widening in shock from a very familiar fear.

Shepard saw, Mordin saw. The person standing far above them regarding them with a strange face coated with one strong light. Confusion reigned until Shepard noticed something more peculiar about their savior. It looked synthetic, the side of it's body had been blown open by unknown damage, and a piece of N7 armor welded into place. Legs much like that of Quarians. But it didn't appear to be a Quarian at all.

It's a Geth, a lone synthetic that quietly gazed down at them from up high, but did not shoot at them, nor did it even try to. It turned it's attention fully towards the Commander.. and, to the surprise of everyone present, it spoke.

"Shepard Commander!"


	25. Chapter 25

It Walked through a dark tunnel in a journey that seemed to last for an eternity. It roared at it's surroundings, scraping it's claws against the black walls. A being which previously walked the world as a creature of flesh before it's rise as one of the dead, searching for a way as a distant unknown willed it onward. A red light could be seen above, the radiance of a star that failed to light the heavens. And thereto it climbed. Whispers surrounded it, spurring it into further action. Flesh to rend, more to convert. Pests to destroy, the sleeping god commanded it.

And so with a terrible howl, it climbed upon the panels along with several others.. claws at the ready to bring down the foes of the gods. The only purpose these fallen beings carried, and a purpose ending abruptly as the wretched Husk's head exploded as a round impacted with it's skull and punched through. It tumbled to the ground and knew nothing more. The last sensation felt, being the footsteps of the living.

"A Geth? Here! I can't believe this!" Hidan laughed at those behind him as the team pressed forward.

"Very interesting. One capable of verbal communications." Mordin offered his observation, would had let a smile tug at him if not for their current situation.

Mei followed the group, acting as rear-guard... a cloud of corrosive vapor following in her wake, careful not to let it close to her allies. "I am more curious about why it did not attack us. I have never seen the Geth hold back, much less talk."

"I believe we'll find out soon enough, but keep your eyes on the mission. We need a Reaper IFF, we should not stay on board this ship for any longer than necessary." Shepard told them while he pulled up his rifle and gunned down another Husk that attempted to challenge the group as it rose behind Hidan.

"Indeed, indoctrination in full effect. Detrimental to our health to stay." Mordin said in agreement.

"I feel nothing of the sort." Hidan clamored.

Shepard dug into his memories.. "If it's true what the tablets conveyed, you Kalinin are far more resistant to the indoctrination. Perhaps it takes much longer to work."

"Yeah... lucky us." Mei shook her head. Groaning filling the space between them as several more Husks surfaced to attack them. The group simply picking up their pace.

"Their probably all that's left, leave them." Shepard growled the order.

They quickly moved through several sections of the wreck, eventually leaving them to another pressure door that could be seen from a distance away. Shepard quickly led them across the remaining distance until only one corner separated them from the door they needed to go through, only to stop dead in their tracks upon the sight that awaited them.

"That's going to be trouble, problematic!" Mordin spoke calmly while regarding that which could be called a massive speed bump to slow their progress. A large crowd of Husks had gathered themselves between them and the door.

"You just had to open your mouth, didn't you?" Hidan muttered, turning around to gun down those that were trying to attack them from behind.. "Now what? Are you going to tell us that some hunchbacks are going to join them, huh?"

The pressure door opened, revealing the approach of no less than three Scions.

"You... should stop talking." Mai remarked dryly.

"Yeah... my bad.".

"Take cover!" Mordin warned them, having already scrambled behind a metal crate by the time the swarm noticed their presence and started to surge forward. Nearly drowning the place with the sheer volume of the noise they made. Biotic blasts passing them overhead. The living before them took the Salarian's advice to heart and ducked into what cover they could find and let the blasts pass them before leaning out, opening fire in earnest as their situation overcame their initial surprise. The new thudding noise of their heavy Carnifex pistols began to compete with the incessant groaning of the charging husks. Heads and limbs parting.. bodies pulverized, frozen, gutted and burned. Many were destroyed, yet the rest kept going.

"Goddamn it! How many fucking people did that bastard from Cerberus send?" Hidan yelled at the very top of his lungs. They managed to keep the Husks away for now, but they kept inching closer as the fight dragged on.

The Husks' progress were only halted temporarily the times when they got close enough for Hidan to jump out of his cover and cut down a great enough number that the horde had little choice but to work their way through the piles of corpses before they could once again fire. An exchange of melee strikes that were only broken by the Scions covering the lesser creatures, forcing Hidan back into cover.

In one critical moment, Hidan was blown away into the railing twenty-five feet away. Forcing Mordin to do a full sweep to incinerate a full wall's worth of enemies to the point that his omni-tool almost shorted out.

Hidan managed to get from the ordeal with a few bruises thanks to his kinetic barriers. The man grit his teeth as pain shot through his body while trying to move. The attack did a bigger number on him than he thought. But seeing the others having difficulties, he forced himself back on his feet. Moving more slowly as he worked to perform his job as the hedge cutter in this battle.

However, as noted before, they could not risk staying here for too long.

"Oi, Mei. Wanna switch places?" Hidan cried out. The former Mizukage still acting as rear guard. Maintaining her cloak of corrosive vapor on the general area away from them to prevent any enemies from ambushing them.

"Sure that's a good idea?" Mei asked, primarily worried about their comrades in this tight space.. and about the damage she could cause to the path ahead if she went all out.

"Positive!"

"What are you going on about?" Shepard managed to call out, having stopped shooting for a split second to get the question across with all the noise going on.

Hidan broke off and headed into the rear of their group while Mei stepped forth. "Slow them down, and I'll knock them down." Mei asked of them.

Shepard ejected another spent heat sink, placing in a new one before he aimed the rifle again, and began to fire wildly into the approaching swarm. An attack that was coupled with Mordin using cryo blasts to freeze the shot enemies, slowing down the group even more. "Good, think I can take it from here." … the woman pushing past them despite their warnings.

She sank her palms together, forming the hand seal; dog. That was all it took for her. The woman inhaled sharply. The Scions pushing aside many of the Husks in the mean time, about to unleash their deadly powers up close. But were too late in their attempt.

"Yoton: Yokai no Jutsu! she exhaled and having kneaded the elemental Chakra properly within her, releasing a stream of lava that were shot upward along an arch above the swarm and fell upon it. Ensuring the demise of a great number of Husks... as well as one of the Scions, which melted as the molten rock coated it.

A few dozen husks remained, plus the two remaining damaged Scions that tried to surge forward, but their lower limbs melting in the pools of lava that persisted, coalescing in temporary ponds of metal as the scaffolding began to fall apart. The trapped Husks and crippled Scions became easy prey after that.

"It's going to be hard. To walk through that." Mordin pointed out.

"Which is why I thought it was a poor idea, stupid Hidan." Mei growled, shaking her head.

"Ah, you wound me. At least we got rid of them already... can't be that much left." Hidan shrugged.

"Could you call down some water and clear this up?" Shepard inquired.

Mei nodded.. "I will. Just give me a second." she paused before she spoke again, whispering quietly.. "You should probably check Hidan, one of his arms looks fairly badly hurt. May be broken."

Mordin looked over his shoulder at the man, whom clutched the beleaguered arm of his and gave her a nod.. "Will do."

Mei thanked him before moving forward again and prepared a water based technique.

* * *

"... Your sure?" Shikamaru asked. Static filling the channel which was maintained with the Normandy.

It's pilot responded clearly enough.. "Yeah, we lost contact with Shepard and the others. It's kinetic barriers snapped online a while after they went inside. Been trying to hail them since."

"So, we have no idea what is going on in there?"

"Well, we are getting readings showing intense activity on the inside, possibly the core of the Reaper ship. I hazard a guess that they will find it eventually and put it down... but there's a risk to it, I believe." Joker informed him, no half-assed jokes.. something which Shikamaru appreciated at such times like this, but made the situation no better than it already is.

"Something tells me I'm not going to like what you're about to say..."

He could hear the Human sigh. "If they disable the Reapers core, the mass effect field that have been maintaining it's position and relative safety these last tens of millions of years will disappear. The irrevocable result would be the Reaper ship plummeting into the Brown dwarf." EDI interjected.

"So speed is of the essence?"

"Essentially. Yes."

A frustrated groan.. "Alright, tell us if anything happens right away."

"We'll do. No worries." And the link closed as static overcame it. "In other words, shit have hit the fan, as it always does. But we can't do anything but to wait."

"Figures. And that happened at the same time when I got the confirmation about my grand daughters pregnancy at the hands of a lunatic." Onoki almost spat as he leaned back in his chair, resignation upon his face.

"I'd give them a hearty congratulations however, Onoki." Nagato threw in at him. The old man almost looked like he had been shot.

"Congratulations? All I'm going to offer that man is a beating." The old man frowned.. "And what about Konan, you gotten in with her yet?"

A low whimper escaped Nagato to the others surprise. "Don't remind me. She's determined, But I feel bad about being courted by my best friends lover."

"Who's long since dead, she got to move on sometime, as should you."

A long throaty sigh.. "Yes. But she senses my reluctance. It's likely that when our time comes... it's going to involve enough rope to sink a ship."

"Haha. Does not sound that far-fetched..." Shikamaru replied, a chuckle away from being deadpan.

Nagato lowered his head to the control panel, barely restraining himself from headbutting it. And silence descended on the room.

* * *

It took a while, time spent using omni-gel on Hidan's most recent wounds, but eventually they managed to pave the way so that they may could continue on their march onward. But despite the removal of the lava, the scaffold still remained weakened from the most recent strain. Many places on the panels had been melted clean away. So getting past the obstruction depended on speed and caution in equal measure.

The pressure door eased aside with little prompting. eliciting some relief from Shepard and the others. A short hallway between them and the next door. Well lit and clean.

They proceeded through, relaxing ever so slightly as the door behind closed shut, providing them with a small sanctuary in this nightmare.

There was nothing particular to take note of in the corridor. But one thing stood out, a singular equipment closet. Frowning at it, Shepard stopped before it and ventured towards hacking it for the contents. Hoping to find something they can use. Within a few moments, he managed to force the closet open. Most of the contents inside being useless, broken tools and reserve items. But he found about thirty heat sinks on the top shelf. That alone being a sight for sore eyes. Shepard quickly distributed them amongst the squad members.

The distraction seemed to be quite welcome as they moved on to ransack the rest of the closet, until Mordin found and pulled out a PDA which none of them had seen until that point.

"What does it contain?" Shepard asked gravely, not expecting much different from what they have already seen.

The Salarian browsed through the contents. "Crazed, incoherent nonsense." he whispered.. but then suddenly he froze, irrelevant information replaced by rows upon roes of technical data and programs. The language looked ancient, but familiar somehow. Mei looked over his shoulder, reading over the information attached to the discovered programs.

"Shepard! This PDA contains a Reaper IFF!" the Mizukage breathlessly told Shepard.

"What? Let me see!" Shepard quickly perked up as he received the PDA and began to read through it. And once satisfied, he attempted to open a link. "Hey, Joker. Mission complete, we're heading back." it took a few moments before he and the others began to realize that they couldn't contact the Normandy. "Damn it. Mordin, can you detect any interference?"

The Salarian brought up his omni-tool again and scanned for energy signatures. The tool worked slowly because of the earlier strain. But he eventually did learn something useful. "Kinetic barriers reactivated. Preventing outside contact. Until that is stopped, we are isolated."

"What is the source?"

"The core. It is nearby."

"Define, nearby!"

"Just past that pressure door." Mordin continued, pointing at the massive door in the corridor which would inevitably lead them into the depth of the ship.

"Great... then let's check what's going on beyond here." Hidan spoke, his voice devoid of mirth as he pressed the opening mechanism and watched the door slide away, revealing a large chamber beyond, their path obstructed by a large kinetic barrier. The dead end confirmed as he slammed his scythe against it's surface.

But their collective attention focused on the lone Geth unit standing in the far side of the room, typing away at a control panel while several Husks emerged from the dark, moving towards the synthetic's position.

"What's it doing?" Mei asked, observing the event with an uneasy calm.

"Don't know."

The Geth finally acknowledged the Husks presence, turned around and gunned down the closest ones with precise shots before turning back to the panel, hammered away and hitting one final button before turning around again, just as a Husk managed to get close enough to the machine and struck it to the deck in one clean blow. The kinetic barrier dropped, the Husks promptly ambushed themselves and were quickly reduced to scrap.

"Why did it help us... why did it save us earlier?" Mai asked, greatly confused while approaching the seemingly deactivated Geth.

Shepard wondered about that too, he had never seen anything but hostility from Geth. Or even heard of anything different. But this one, seemed different from the rest somehow. Sufficient to say, he felt intrigued.

First thing first though. "Why, we can find out later. We'll bring it along once we're done here."

The Kalinin did not appear too enthused about that idea, their expressions told him clear as day. "Why? It's one of the monsters that destroyed our world!" Hidan asked.

"I know you feel upset about the notion, but if this Geth is friendly, we got an opportunity on our hands that we must not let slip."

"What fucking opportunity? We should let it go down with this ship!"

Shepard turned towards him.. "He could provide valuable Intel about the Geth, and the Reapers. It's little but a resource until we can determine if it's intents are genuine, and the possibility of cooperation."

Mei stared at him at length.. and visibly struggled to say what she wanted. But after seeing the sense in Shepard's words. "... Fine, do as you wish."

"Oi, Mizukage! Not you too!" Hidan whirled towards her in disbelief.

"It's the Commanders choice." Mei's shoulders slumped.. "But promise us this, Shepard. If it proves useless, we'll be the ones to put it down."

Shepard gave a slight nod. "Alright, you have my word on that." he turned to the Reaper core. "But before that, let's blow this thing to hell."

It took them the greater whole of an hour to get things ready. All but a few Husks remained. And most of the surviving ones were too scattered to pose much of a problem as the team pulled together all the equipment they could find among the Cerberus supplies present that could explode, or do the same if wired correctly. They had no real bomb to demolish the place, so they jury-rigged one from what they found on scene.

Mei Terumi's lava techniques were considered. But it was deemed too risky, they did not know how much would be needed to melt through the core, how much time it would take, if it could produce a premature detonation. It was not like a fuse to a bomb they could control. No, what they needed a controlled explosion sufficient to destroy the core.

As they finished the bomb and placed the massive assortment of items around the core. Shepard Macgyvered a detonator, with a significant cord leading from it and to the bomb.. long enough for them to be at a safe distance.

Shepard and Mordin picked up the Geth by the arms and held it between them while Hidan slowly backed away from the core while handling the detonator carefully until they got past the two pressure doors, keeping both open with a few crates blocking the way.

"Alright, set it off." Shepard gave the word.

A nod.. and Hidan's left hand hovered above the button that dominated the small device for a full two seconds before he pressed it. It took a few seconds of total silence before the improvised bomb detonated.. the corridor leading to the core lighting up fiercely, the ship around them shuddered with the resulting destruction in it's most vital component. Gravity starting to fail. The hull creaking violently as the mass effect field that surrounded the Reaper began to fade, leaving the derelict vulnerable to the incredibly massive gravitic pull of the brown dwarf.

The team hurried off the scaffold, and ran along the uneven terrain between them and the gaping wound that existed on that part of the ship. "Joker, do you copy?"

"Damn it, Commander!" The pilot responded with an explosive sense of relief. But before Shepard could respond the Normandy began approaching their general location along the side of the Dreadnought's hull, towards that very breach.

The dreadnought sounded like it's about to fall apart, they did not have much time left. They stopped at the very edge of the breach and stared all as one at the Normandy as it approached and presented it's main airlock in their direction, and opened. "Come on, get on board!"

With a heave, Shepard and Mordin tossed the Geth body towards the other ship, quickly followed by the Kalinin. Then Mordin. Shepard took one last look over his shoulder at a few Husks that had managed to surface close to them. But too late, he jumped, floating through the space between the two ships and felt gravity overtake him as the Normandy's airlock closed shut behind him.

"Get us out of here, Joker!"

"On it, Commander." the pilot responded quickly.. the Light Cruiser picking up speed immediately and left the Reaper derelict to it's final demise. A few explosions twisted the Reapers hull as it began to fall out of sight into the brown dwarfs atmosphere. And what seemed to be an eternity ticked by before the clouds only barely concealed a huge explosion as the Reaper succumbed to the massive pressure deep within Mnemosyne. The thirty-seven million year old relic finally gone.

An hour later, Shepard had gone to his room to rest. They stored away the Geth in the AI core room, and stationed a guard to ensure nothing happened. EDI had been in the process of draining all data concerning the Reaper IFF the PDA they found contained. It had proven to be a truckload in worth.

"It will take some time to fully install the IFF and make it ready for us, Commander." EDI reported once the download had been complete.

"Will it be ready by the time we join with the Cerberus fleet assets we were promised at the Omega 4 relay?"

"If nothing goes wrong, I believe so." the AI stated smoothly.

"Alright, keep me updated." Shepard closed down the link. They merely needed to deliver Hidan and Mei back to the Lance of the Six Paths, along with recent news and hope they take it well. Then off to the Omega 4 relay. Remarkable little time remained, the trip alone could take days. The Commander cursed himself briefly. Hoping that Councilor Anderson's operation against the Chakra relay stations' going well.

* * *

The alien door opened slowly, bending and warping aside, like a length of rope loosening from a rubber tube. Almost like a sphincter. Tayuya stepped through it first, and already she found herself at the verge of vomiting.

"This place is.. unsettling." Zetsu groaned as he followed her. Tayuya supported herself against the wall. Bio-tech, neither of them appreciated the look of it. The walls were covered by a alloy that felt chitinous to the touch. They couldn't see any sign of discomfort on Darui and Shino because of their control chips inhibiting their actions to a certain extent.

All of them appreciated the artificial gravity though. And the energy coming from the Chakra pathway systems within the station clearly told them that it's the right place.

"Even after the vision, actually standing here I can't help but feel how alien the Makers were." Madara passed the four others as he stepped through another door before them, and into what must be the main chamber. The general shape being that of an orb, but contained several tiers of floors bound together by thin bridges. The bottom occupied a somewhat familiar imprint.

However, between the five tiers that the room possess, three of them seemed to intervene into a large sidewards floor filled with monitors, control panels and projectors. Or at least the bio-tech equivalent. A few elaborate markings could be seen scattered around the chamber. Five in particular which clearly indicated the elements. Fire, wind, water, earth, lightning.

And while he was busy surveying the room, Kabuto moved past him.. seemingly not bothered by the alien geometries as he made his way up to the sideways control space. Madara gazed up as he ascended the bridges up to there. His Sharingan discerning one particular feature of this bio-tech. The artificial gravity seemed to work differently from what they had seen so far. Chakra ran all across the floor and walls, and focused around their feet, making sure they can walk around without difficulty, instead of floating through zero-gravity. The air was difficult to breathe in at first, but the atmosphere quickly adjusted to the Kalinin whom just arrived.

Come to think of it, the stations were intended for them. Kabuto passed an identification code to the station upon approach so that the defenses would let them pass, the identification being their very DNA, transmitted through a small sacrifice of blood.

"Stop your whining and come on!" Madara chastised Tayuya and Zetsu for their moment of weakness. He paced along to follow Kabuto, with the two others only barely keeping up at the moment.

"Madara! The shape down at the bottom, we are supposed to affix the statue there!" Kabuto hollered, pointing downwards... or sidewards according to his current position.

Madara looked down at the bottom for a moment before moving down.

"Tayuya, Zetsu. Give me a hand here."

"Finally... something to keep me busy." Tayuya spoke softly.

Zetsu shook his head.. "Nothing much I bet."

Smoke obscured the lower levels, but was quickly filtered out as Madara summoned the Statue of the outer path into place. The union between the imprint and the statue going smoothly. Madara watching as the Chakra of the station and the tailed beasts within the statue began to interact.

Good.

Madara did not like to follow the orders of such a young upstart. But the sheer promise of this plan compelled him into cooperating for the time being.

"What is it looking like up there?"

A silence followed for several seconds.. long enough for Madara to simply warp himself up there, but Kabuto did not seem fussed about that detail, probably expected it. "Quite fine. We are getting green all across the board. The weapon will take some time to charge though."

"Why is that?"

"Technically although the weapon can be operated and fired with just two tailed beasts. It's the minimal amount. The more beasts involved the quicker the charging period."

"Do we have enough time to spare?" A yelp away from them distracted him away from Kabuto.

"Hey, look at this.. what in the world?" Tayuya called out as the projectors displayed scores of holograms in mid-air. Nothing surprising, other than the fact that the projectors used a gaseous form of Chakra to form those images, making them semi-solid due to the sheer concentration.

"Quite a lot of time, I reckon. Here, we are getting feeds from the rest of the stations." Kabuto beckoned as he moved closer to the images.

"What does these scriptures say?" Zetsu voiced his curiosity as every Kalinin present focused their attention on the projections.

Madara peered at the images.. "Two stations destroyed. Recently too. The Citadel must be on the hunt. Doubt Shepard could pull this off by himself."

"Quite perceptive." Kabuto hissed as he reached for the control panel that connected to the projectors. "The third station are about to be attacked as we speak."

Madara felt disappointed.. "I thought these installations would be better protected than this."

"The Citadel according to automated reports have utilized novel tactics and overwhelming numbers thus far. During the first two assaults, the effectiveness of the defenders have been rather small. However, all that the defenders learn about the enemy are shared with the other stations as well. Which will allow them to become much more proficient at eliminating the particular threat." Kabuto let go a small chuckle.. "You could say that the Citadel forces are teaching the Maker defenses how to fight, in a manner of speaking. Individually each Maker ship are a power house in each their way, but the new knowledge will allow the automated forces to fight more effectively."

Madara frowned as he looked up at the image of the galaxy that dominated the view, raised a finger and softly pressed the blinking dot on the map, indicative of the station currently under attack. The image zoomed in immensely until it settled into a view a star system. Overlooking now a battle field, windowing both forces smoothly in. Rendered images of each individual ship in either fleets appearing. The Maker ships arranged themselves in the same formation as in the former encounters as indicated in the log.

"How inefficient. Let's provide a measure of aid, shall we?" Kabuto offered as he pressed a few buttons on the panel, soft to the touch, a small squelching noise acknowledging the order. A field covered the whole image. Information about the entire battle field was scrolling past them. Indicated capabilities of enemy ships. Information about the Maker fleet.

"Is this...?" Zetsu gasped, clearly fascinated.

Madara's singular visible eye glowed as he relished the sight, flexing his fingers. "A command interface."

"The most desirable outcome would be the total destruction of the attacking fleet, but they outnumber that stations standing forces by... quite a lot. That leaves our chances for total victory quite low." Kabuto summarized from what he could observe as he pulled a copy of the current image from the active one.. a mold to use for shaping their strategies while the Citadel fleet advanced, estimated a few minutes before the engagement will begin.

"Then all we need are to damage the opposing fleet as much as possible, forcing them to slow down to gather reinforcements." Madara lifted his hands to the mold and shaped the fleet. The ship types indicated; Three Shield ships. Twenty-one Gunships. One Array ship. The first ones were arrayed at the tip of the formation in a wide spaced triangular formation that slowly circled around a single axis. The Gunships packed together in a tight formation, without obscuring each others field of fire. Upon a closer look, they had been fielded into a formation that looked much like a ring, with a large hole in the middle, inside which the Array ship was positioned. "This, would be satisfactory."

"Ah, if I could put a name on it, I'd call it a barrel formation. You basically have taken the ships to tighten up their fire solutions as much as possible. It won't leave much room for evasive maneuver..." Kabuto noted, seemingly deep in thought.

"Indeed, but as I said, because we can't destroy them all, we have to incur as many casualties as possible before the enemy forces' numbers become a telling factor. This will allow us to place forth a withering field of fire against them."

"It's worth a shot. It could be worth to rearrange the Shield Ships though. The way things are, the greatest weakness of the Maker fleet are the lack of fighters to counter that of the enemy."

"Logical solution, fighters are mostly ineffective against the Void Demons. Sheer weight of numbers using heavy ships and firepower are probably the most plausible solution as far as conventional tactics are concerned."

"But leaves them vulnerable against Citadel fleets."

"And about the Shield ships?"

"Their primary purpose are to set shields into place, consisting entirely of smoke consisting of microscopic particles arranged so tightly as to slow down projectiles passing through them. A form of cushion. That's how they minimize damage. Stopping the projectiles are difficult to say the least, especially that of Void Demons. No, Maker shields focus on slowing down the projectiles to reduce the inevitable damage. The advantage of that being that Maker shields are far more durable. Once a kinetic barrier are weakened, it takes time to replenish it." Kabuto informed the other at length. "The Citadel's opening move according to common doctrines are to send in waves of fighters first along with wolf packs of Frigates." he began to feed instructions into the interface connected to the three Shield ships. "I will have them to be used for blocking the fighters."

"Alright, but right after the initial wave, I'd like to have them to protect against their main fleet."

"Of course. The Array ship is quite a curious ship. No one would be able to guess what type it is without having information about it beforehand."

"Indeed. I only glanced at the description and already knew where I wanted it." a dark chuckle.. "Like the hidden part of an ice berg."

The active field image was about to be set. The Citadel fleet arrived within effective range. And as predicted a great number of fighters and Frigates swarmed towards towards the Maker fleet.

"About time to set things in motion." Kabuto whispered as he pulled the mold back into the active interface, watching now as the real ships rearranged their formation in a hurry, to exactly where they wanted them to."

"Look at that, it's perfect." Tayuya whispered as the fighter screen and the Frigates behind them narrowed their formation to go after the much more tightly packed enemy fleet.

"The Frigates got smart Officers though, their slowing down. Probably expecting trouble." Zetsu guessed.

The fighters however rushed into the formation. Only for the Shield ships to intercept their flight path. Vast clouds of particles drifted from each their five arms as they lazily spun around. The shield fully up within seconds. The very shrouds which purpose to slow down bullets for their more combat dedicated ships behind them proved lethal against the fighters as they tried to pass through. The small crafts crushed as the shrouds built massive amount of pressure around them, no less than fifty fighters tried to get through before orders from higher up managed to reach them, forcing the remaining fighter wings in the attack wave to break off into individual squadrons and away from the Shield ships.

"Excellent." Kabuto sneered.

"Good, now back to fleet protection." Madara instructed, just to watch one of the Shield ships blow up as it was strafed by several Frigates, seeing their firepower plowing through the shield to fragile ship beyond, destroying it.

"It's already a foregone conclusion that the local fleet will fall. We can just hope they will take enough of the Citadel forces with them to slow them down." Kabuto said, sullenly.

Madara chuckled, "Given up on them already?" he pointed out the formation as it aimed down at the center at the sleek Salarian formation like the barrel of a gun. "I'd say the battle have just begun."

Information scrolled by on the projections faster than before as all the Gunships opened fire as one. Resulting in two rapid salvos of projectiles that resembled nails. Bio-spikes according to information the computers provided, followed by a third salvo composed of a strange seed shaped bullet that followed in the spikes wake.

The Array ship tilted forward, it's carapace gleaming as no less than eighteen gun ports opened on the topside of it. A six-shot barrage apiece were launched within short notice. Eliciting a long whistle from the watching Kalinin in appreciation of the sight.

The Frigates along the way were quick to evade the incoming barrage. It did not matter where they went as long as they get out of the way. The Cruisers however could not move nearly as fast, and the first salvo soon reached them. Most of the bio-spikes found their mark. The shields were greatly weakened on most of the ships. But several shots missed. The second salvo arrived soon after, striking the already weakened ships. In the mildest of cases, the hits tore the outer hull apart, but failed to cause any real damage. But where the worst happened, the bio-spikes passed clean through the opposing ships, causing explosive atmospheric decompression. those whom were struck through the engines detonated, breaking up into small fragments. Or simply hung there, dead in space.

"Only a few went down? That sucks." Tayuya worded it exactly, not holding back her disappointment.

"There's one more salvo from the Gunships incoming. Six more if you add the Array ship." Madara observed.

The third salvo got to the Salarian battle group within a few moments and impacted with the ships belonging to the fleet, quite literally as the over sized projectiles collided with the Cruisers within and exploded in due turn. Eighteen ships quickly vanished from the display carnage in the resulting carnage as the unshielded and damaged crafts took the hits. The Array ship salvo's following in late and wrecked what was left. It's projectiles were built to be blunt, and put a heavy emphasize on stopping power and sheer kinetic force than armor piercing. Eight more Salarian ships that survived the Gunships' assault tried to limp away only to be obliterated by the Array ship. And those heavily damaged by the previous barrage weren't spared either.

"That's the way to do it." Zetsu grinned as he watched the chaos. The Maker fleet successfully crippled the Salarian section of the Citadel fleet.

Tayuya shook her head.. "You think so? Take another look."

True to what she referred to, the time it took to perforate the Salarians, the other elements of the Citadel fleet took their time to rain a hell of their own upon the Bio-ships.

The Shield Ships had been overwhelmed and destroyed. A third of the Gunships were also destroyed, with another third gravely damaged.. five additional ships soon after, the formation slowly being torn asunder by the wolf packs now. The battle appeared to be lost.

"Align the ships for another barrage." Madara quickly put forward.

Kabuto shook his head.. "Their barely holding together as it is." he leaned closer to the interface.. "Ignore last order, fire at targets of opportunity."

The other glared at him strictly as his orders were overridden. But relented soon as the remains of the Bio-ships were shown in the finishing stages of being destroyed in detail. Remaining Gunships and the now damaged Array ship constantly firing burst after burst at the enemy fleet, causing several more casualties, primarily among the Turians. One of the Gunships rammed a Frigate that strayed too close, the resulting collision smearing both off the battle field.

Within a few additional minutes, what remained of the fleet was decimated, the Array ship finally succumbing as dozens of rounds struck it from various angles, bringing an end to the battle. Leaving the Kalinin to simply watch as several additional projectiles was launched from the Citadel formation and struck at the Chakra relay station in that system, disintegrating it. And by extension causing the image to fade.

A silence fell upon the chamber, with the exception the low constant hum from the organic structure surrounding them. It was Kabuto whom eventually broke the silence.

"They have at least given us more time with their sacrifice. We should be thankful for that fact, at least."

"...Yes." Madara nodded in agreement. It was the truth.

Kabuto took another mold up in the display. "We should plan for later battles while ahead."

"Yes, lets." The other frowned as they went to work. While the other two turned towards the chambers lone and matted window, a vague image of the stars beyond.

"I hope the charging of the weapon finish soon, I already hate this place." Tayuya groaned as she found a place to sit down.

"That goes for everyone here.." Zetsu commented. "But we don't have a choice, it's the only path open for us right now."

Tayuya sighed and turned her gaze to the stars outside, and if for only a minute, she felt more tired than she had ever been before. Waiting turned out to be all they could do for now.


	26. Chapter 26

The Mass relay belonging to the system of Sahrabarik had seen plenty of activity lately. Not just from the various people living within the Terminus Systems, but also ship crews which have no interest towards Omega and the neighboring systems. It's the only gateway into the Omega Nebula from rest of the galaxy. A lone sentinel in the great dark.

The core pulsed brightly, the revolving rings moving faster as if hailing the arrival of a Light Cruiser, a significant ship within the galaxy. But which only a few knew or cared about. For what reason would they be interested in whatever business the ship's crew wanted to conduct? Something which they would be better off not knowing, as the saying went, ignorance is bliss.

The Normandy left the Mass relay behind, slowing down only briefly to wait for the ship that accompanied it. If other people the strange couple, they would inevitably wonder why an old Batarian Cruiser would follow a Human made ship with apparent friendly intention, which remained largely unheard of throughout the galaxy. And as though seeking a fate that would never be advised by anyone who's people had ever tried approaching the much feared Omega 4 relay. The sensors and communications on board the Normandy blared to life as automatic warnings and hazard beacons came in as if trying to dissuade the crew from the approach. Hanging around the relay. a small number of ships could be seen, all which likely also received the same messages.

One shuttle launched from either approaching ships and headed straight towards the waiting formation which were tagged as friendlies since before they even approached. The fleet assets promised by the Illusive man. Three Cruisers and eight Frigates. Not even close to the capacity of the Systems Alliance, not even remotely. But Cerberus usually did not have need for such things. But sometimes some measure of brute force will be needed, hence the Military sections the organization possess.

Eventually a ship made itself clear from the rest, a cruiser with a more elaborate emblem of the three-headed guard dog of the underworld upon it's hull.

The hangar opened slowly as to greet them, allowing access to the two shuttles. A modern top of the line Kodiak and a far older craft of Batarian design. The differences such that the differently designed and built origin seared the other with spite until they had finished landing, allowing the side hatches to open.

"Greetings, good to have you here on board my ship. My name's George Kullen, and I'm the Commanding Officer of this-" he paused to convey the proper words.. "-hastily rallied fleet." the man spoke as he approached them from the elevator, flanked by at least four guards.

"Good to see the Illusive man being true to his word." Shepard bluntly whispered as he walked away from the shuttle, followed by one of his crew. The Commander smirking very slightly as some of the guards winced at the very sight of an Asari Justicar... though Samara behaved like nothing of particular was needed.

A sigh escaped George's throat at Shepard. "Commander, no matter what you may think of him. When push comes to shove, he's a very reliable man. Especially when Humanity is at stake, like it is now."

"We haven't been able to get in touch with Councilor Anderson on our way here. What are the news on the front?"

"What info we got are sketchy. But they have gone through several relay stations, but have had yet to find the one occupied by Kabuto and his merry gang." George's gazed tilted to the right as those from the other shuttle approached. From what dossier Cerberus had, that one had to be that Nagato fellow walking on the front, his odd and piercing eyes watching him intently and seriously. One other Kalinin flanked him from behind. Information told him it was one of their younger females in the group; Tenten. Her eyes fixated upon the guards within the room as if expecting an attack... though part of her attention seemed to be turned towards something else entirely. Unknowing to the crew, her eyes were more fixed upon their weapons.

"I see. Then we have to get this little planning session done and away with as quickly as possible. Time is a luxury we may not carry in great supply." Nagato said before Shepard could, straight to the point.

"Alright, follow me to our briefing room so we may go over our plans, it is unknown territory beyond the Omega 4 relay, we got to be prepared." George spoke and gestured to the elevator behind him, stepping onto it before the others. Shepard and the rest following suit.

The lift went three stories up, faster than the Normandy's elevator to the Kalinin's relief. The Lance of the Six Paths had one too, but was mostly used for cargo, the rest of the ships decks could be easily reached through the plain old fashioned stairs. It seemed like their species had a certain high dislike to such enclosed contraptions.

The briefing room seemed to be located in the back of the command deck in the back, just like the Normandy. It seemed similar other than the positioning of the CIC, which was located in close proximity to the rest of the crew instead of the case of the Normandy where the ship's superior officer watched over the rest of the crew. Modified Turian style it's called apparently.

George, Shepard and Nagato passed into the briefing room. Samara and Tenten had to wait outside, flanking the doors like two watchdogs. Pretty fine looking watchdogs if the wolf-whistles from a few passing crew members were anything to go by. Though a few were decent enough to stick to their own business, two of them for instance...

"Have you visited the armory yet? One crew member spoke.

The other shook his head.. "Nah, I'm a navigator, not one of the guards. Got no business in there."

"You should take a look at least, we just got some awesome new tech upgrades to our weapons, some new ones I've never seen before."

"Cerberus seems like they got a hand everywhere, acting all klepto..."

"Dangerous talk that. There are also some new armor modules in store. I've heard their special..." the chattering crew members vanished once the airlock they just passed shut closed.

"Um, Samara?" Tenten asked.

"What is it?" Samara asked, regarding her slightly.

The girl paused for moment before she replied.. "I'd like to go take a look-see around the ship, if you don't mind."

A low sound of a sigh escaped her as the Justicar mulled it over.. "Feel free to, but come back soon. No matter what Cerberus have shown us thus far, it still remains as a extremist organization. Walking about alone is not wise, especially if your a young girl."

"Oh, kami..." the girl whispered in a low voice.. the old Asari sounded like a worried aunt there. "Yeah yeah, don't worry. If someone tried, I'd break them to pieces." the girl waved the concern off as she left the room, via the airlock to the left.

After Tenten had left the room, the woman smiled softly. "I'm not trying to protect you, little miss. I'm trying to protect them."

Tenten wondered about where to find the armory on this ship though. And the signs did not help her much. She could not read English. Translators helped in conversations with other people, heck, they were lucky some PDA's could be set to the strange Earth language "Japanese" that for some reason are very similar to their own. But she could not read the English language yet. Hell, they learned how to pilot and maintain the Lance of the Six Paths almost strictly through a process of trial and error, since none of them could read the Batarian language.

And through the same trial and error, she searched through the rooms of that floor.. took the elevator one floor up.. to see that only the Captain's quarters' up there. Two floors down from there, she could only see the crew's quarters, mess hall, medical facility. One more floor down, she finally found the armory in the great armored room to the left. In contrast to the Normandy, that place appeared to be far more secure. Much of it the common bread, and some more rare, masterful, and powerful. Enough to make her giddy like a child.

She could only see two people present inside. A large muscular man whom seemed to be working on something while another one snoozed in the distant corner.

"Hey! This place is not for kids!" the former shouted at the girl as she brashly picked up a rifle, specifically an M-8 Avenger from a nearby table and examined it with a gleam of excitement in her eyes. She turned off the weapon's safety and watched as it folded out fully to it's full combat ready status, minus a heat sink. It took her a moment to acknowledge the man until he put a heavy hand on her shoulder.

She peered over her shoulder at him, and quickly slapped his hand away with a hint of annoyance at the intrusion. Much to his surprise.

"Wait, your one of those Kalinin folks, ain't ya?" he asked, no less gruffly. He gripped his slapped hand with the other as he did the math. An ordinary girl would not had been here at all, which only left that one possibility. "Those weapons are dangerous, you put it down this instant!" he growled, as he put a hand on the weapon she held and pulled it away, clicked the weapon's safety back off and put it back on the table. Kalinin or not, he did not like anyone but those authorized for the weapons use to touch one. Much less someone much younger than him.

"Hey, what's the big idea!" she complained.

He was about to answer when a call came for him. Such bad luck, one of his subordinates' getting impatient and started a fight in the mess hall. The man turned to leave.. "I need to go take care of some business. Don't touch any of those weapons for any reason!" he growled before leaving the room.

Tenten put a hand behind her head and feigned an apology.. "Sorry about that, sir. I won't do it again." she waited till he had left... "As if." the girl turned and picked up the weapon again and examined it. Tip top condition. "Ooooooh!" she beamed at the weapons surrounding her.. "I want to take all of you home with me!" and promptly plucked out a pair of scrolls, smiling deviously.

The girl worked swiftly needless to say. She took Assault rifles. M-8 Avengers, M-15 Vindicators.. all in ample supplies. She also with great joy took about a dozen M-76 Revenants and stored them all into one scroll. Along with a crate's worth of heat sinks. All intended as a payback with interest against Cerberus for Taylor confiscating the stuff she took from the black market on Ilium.

She still had one more scroll to fill though. And quickly decided what to put in. Several M-27 Scimitars. She turned down the M-22 Eviscerators and the couple of M-300 Claymores in the storage. And elected the M-97 Vipers over any of the other available sniper rifles. The girl groaned as she carried over to her scroll six of the Heavy weapons in the armory. Of a very special type. And sealed them all. With all of this wrapped up and the scrolls prepared and in hand, Tenten left the armory. "H-hey, wait!"

"Huh?" Tenten asked as she turned around as the sleepyhead just woke up and tried to pin her down with his glare. The man looked like the direct opposite of the other who worked here. Thick glasses, a weak build and no less spoke rapidly. Though he could not possibly had managed to hold a candle to Mordin. And stammered constantly through it.

"H-hey! You can't j-just walk out like t-that with our weapons, m-miss!" he yelled at her. Stealthily she hid one in her pocket as she turned around. Only one visible in hand now. It was irksome, but she could not stick around. The other one could be back any minute.

"You see any weapons on me? I only have this scroll on me, nothing else!" she replied in a stern manner.

"But y-you made our s-stuff vanish, g-give that t-thing back now... !"

Argh, he witnessed her sealing away the weapons. Alright then. Tenten decided to pull off a trick to get away.

"H-hand it over!"

The oldest one.

"You l-listening to me?" he asked, his voice just as shaking and nervous as before. And proceeded to gawk at what she did next.

Tenten raised a hand to the collar of her blouse and pulled it forward. Lifted the scroll up to it and put it away.. under her blouse, in her cleavage no less. And then let go of the collar. Turned and left while the man faltered at the sight, a billow of smoke blowing out of his ears as he who could barely even speak to women temporarily mentally collapsed as the situation went wildly beyond his control.

Tenten left the armory and decided to leg it. Just as the big man returned and grunted at her as he passed to the armory, opened the airlock and went inside. And the place seemed like it exploded a mere second later. "What in the hell happened to our guns?" a voice roared, the volume of his scream increasing as the other one explained the situation. And Tenten ran even harder as she could almost feel a dragon breathing her in the neck. Jumped into the elevator and closed it just in time, as the big guy had chased her with a sort of speed surprising for a Human and had almost caught up with her already. Pressed a button which let the lift bring her up to the bridge. Left it and quickly picked up her pace, around the corner, through several rooms and even more airlocks, and to the door where Samara still remained.

"Did you have a pleasant trip around the ship?" Samara asked pleasantly enough.

Tenten panted deeply as she leaned herself against the wall on the other side of the door, gazing back at the Asari. "Yeah, it's big!" the girl coughed and pulled off a wide grin.

"Hope you did not go and cause trouble no-" she tried to finish her sentence before a heavy series of stomping noises could be heard rushing towards them. "What may that be?"

The big Human nearly smashed his way through the airlock and gazed at the young girl in a rage and charged her.

Tenten let out a shrill shriek as he punched the wall next to her head.. "You damned bitch, I'll teach you!" he shouted at her as the open palmed right hand of his motioned to rip her blouse off. The girl cried out as she crossed her arms across her chest and tried to turn away from him before he could do so.

"Nothing is going to stop me, bitch!" he roared, a racket which was accompanied by the nearby door opening. And the big boss of the armory section of the ship finally became aware of the others nearby. An Asari Justicar sending him an extremely severe scowl while her body glistened with biotic energy.

And in the door, that other Kalinin on board the ship also scowled at him, the stare full of murderous intent. The third one standing there was Commander John Shepard looking no less friendly himself. And his superior officer George Kullen no less. The man finding himself under siege from a concentration of death glares that were unrivaled in the galaxy at that exact time.

And there he was, standing over Tenten like a rapist. He only managed to mumble a desperate, "Err, I c-can explain!" before the three men and one woman descended upon him.

It did not take long before the man was pulled out of the area by fellow crew members, whom had to exert themselves greatly to drag the unconscious beaten giant of a man to the brig.

George, Shepard and Nagato returned to the briefing room to continue their chat. While Samara and Tenten remained on guard duty as they did before.

"I wish to know the truth. You went down into the armory and took their weapons... didn't you?" Samara questioned her with a hard voice.

Tenten sighed plainly... "Yeah... I did. It was sort of a personal."

The Justicar looked at the girl for a second. "If I hadn't already sworn my oath to serve Shepard..." it easily sounded like the beginning of a very severe warning.

"Yeah... we are in an economically difficult state right now. But... I will make sure I only steal from criminals." Tenten whispered back. The girl did not promise to stop the weapons theft. Only to make sure it was from people that deserved worse coming for them.

The Asari gave a slight nod. Before turning away.. from the looks of it, the movement was done only with extreme effort.

* * *

They returned to the briefing room and sat down in each their chair surrounding the hologram in the middle, focused on an image of the galaxy. It seemed to be the standard set up, Nagato thought.

"I do apologize, never knew I had that kind of crew member online that would assault a girl like that." George coughed the apology.

"No need to apologize. Let's just get back to the matter at hand."

"I have to say it again, it is very hard to predict what's going to happen on the other side of the Omega 4 relay. All we know is that the Collector's base is located in the center of the galaxy, possibly maintained by a very powerful mass effect field, and radiation shielding." Shepard said as he pointed at the center of the image.

"Yes, and since we don't know half of what we need to know about the inner workings of a mass relay, much less able to replicate such systems. We got no idea of the properties of this relay. It's built to only accept the ships it's system recognize as friendlies, that much is obvious. Sending a scout ship ahead could possibly end up as a complete waste and throw away the element of surprise." George recounted.

"Which is why we have to launch in two waves. Frigates and Fighters will go in first... followed by your Cruisers and the Kalinin's Lance of the Six Paths to provide heavy fire support. It's been guessed by Mordin that there will only be a limited number of fleet assets waiting for us, considering that the only operational area in the center of the galaxy are within the field. But who knows for sure."

"Time is of the essence. The only way we will be able to complete the mission is by getting on whatever base they have there and invade, capture and secure the Jubi for immediate extraction." Nagato this time interjected. "We cannot waste too much time battling their fleet."

"Which is why the Normandy will form the front and center to blow a hole through the Collectors' defenses and land on or within the base itself. All of our custom upgrades are certain to make it possible." Shepard reassured him.. "However, that would also leave us limited in troop deployment in the first wave. So I would like to have a few of your crew to assist."

"That can be done." Nagato nodded at the request. If it had been any one else but Shepard making that request, he would have turned it down.

"A few of the other Frigates will also deploy squads to provide assistance when possible, though that means we need your countermeasure against the seeker swarms." George added in quickly.

"The Reaper IFF have been successfully dissected and are being distributed to the rest of the fleet to install as we speak. The countermeasure will be shared once we're done here." Shepard informed them.

"However, we have no idea of the number of troops we will face. And heat sinks could quickly become scarce. Pretty much why we have to get a supply line ready early during the assault."

"We already have a solution for that problem; Sealing tags." Nagato replied simply.

"The what-now?"

"My people are able to seal weapons and ammunition in specially prepared scrolls. We simply use sealing tags for the same purpose. Sealing in a much larger amount of heat sinks than each individual soldier would normally be able to carry. It'll be made relatively light so that a mere clap to the scroll should release a heat sink in turn." Nagato informed him at length.. "Though it will mostly be supplied to Shepard's crew because of them being the first to go in, and most likely will be be doing most of the inside work. Besides the fact that preparing such scrolls could take more time than we can afford to waste."

"Indeed. We should start making our final preparations before the operation begins." George nodded in agreement as he stood up.

Shepard quickly ran over in his head what needed to be done before taking off. "Alright, the operation will commence in one hour, no more, no less."

"My thoughts exactly." George told him with a wry smile. Nagato had already gotten up and left without a word.. and Shepard was quick to follow. Tenten and Samara following the team in turn to the elevator, and down towards the hangar.

"Who will be coming with us?" Shepard asked, concerning whom among the Kalinin would come along with the Normandy in the initial charge into the base.

"Tenten and Konan will join the first wave." Nagato replied firmly. The girl behind him did not flinch at the choice.

"Why not Naruto and Hinata? Their power could be invaluable." Shepard asked, slightly confused.

Nagato sighed.. "Because of the voices that have been in their heads ever since they uncovered the contents of the tablets. They have gotten much more intrusive. And seem to plague them more and more the closer we get to the goal of stopping the Makers ultimate plan from completing."

Shepard did not even try to mask the slight mask of concern he showed.. "What are the symptoms?"

"Migraine primarily. But it's also affecting their emotional states. Hinata have withdrawn deeper into herself in depression while Naruto are getting mood swings." Nagato grimaced... "They could possibly end up mentally unbalanced. But since we need them, I will be deploying alongside them in the second landing wave. Kisame, Kurotsuchi and Hidan will land elsewhere as well. Onoki will remain on our ship along with Mei and Shikamaru until further notice."

"What about-"

"And we need to talk about is that construct you brought along from the Reaper derelict. That decision remains as one of the reasons I'm not having the Jinchuriki join you. It's a risky choice you made, to protect a Geth. They destroyed our world, and in the worst situation, they could possibly end up turning on you if necessary to destroy it. Especially if the voices within their minds manage to influence them sufficiently."

Shepard looked like he was about to argue, but he released a prolonged sigh before replying. "I stand by my earlier decision. We could learn much about the Geth through that synthetic. If not, I guarantee you that it will be destroyed."

"Fair enough. We have little interest for one of our only allies in this huge galaxy becoming a Geth sympathizer." the Kalinin told him before the elevator door opened before them so that they could return to their shuttles.

Nagato sat down in the far seat within the shuttle while Tenten climbed on board. Shepard's Kodiak already lifting off to leave. She took a different turn, to the cockpit and slapped the pilot whom appeared to be sleeping. "Oi, Shikamaru. We gotta leave!"

The boy coughed a moment before he took control of the craft and had it lift off from the deck, moving to leave the Cruiser. "Yeah, yeah. To have a violent future wife like that. Such a pain..."

"It's a drag to have someone lazy like you for a future husband, honestly!" Tenten found herself to a seat and sighed with the calm sinking over the shuttle. That was, until Nagato could no longer help himself.

"Tenten, you stole something, didn't you?"

"Eh, what? How can you tell?"

"You got a scroll nestled on your chest." Nagato put bluntly, watching the girl gasp and folded her arms across her chest. "No one hides a scroll in ones own cleavage without a reason."

"Um, yeah. But only a few guns and the sort." she nervously stated, reaching a hand into her blouse to pick out the scroll, as well as the one in her pocket.

"Specify, few."

"Ohhh." the girl fumed at the pressure.. "Just a few dozen guns and a crates worth of heat sinks."

"Just a few?" Shikamaru muttered.

"Oh, shut up!" Tenten cried out right back.

The man groaned as he sat deeper into the seat, if that was at all possible. "Never mind. Just don't make a habit of it, okay? It's alright to steal from enemies, but not allies."

"B-but, they are only allies for the moment. Today's friends could be tomorrow's enemies! They still are raising our dead kin to fight for them, and they might have not given up on capturing us yet! Getting ready to stab us in the backs once this is over!"

"If it turns our way that is. However, what we are going to do about Cerberus and our lost kin in the future are being planned for, Tenten. Have patience. One way or another, Cerberus will pay." he told her bluntly, his eyes serious. Which seemed to brighten the girl's mood.

"But what if..."

"No. Let's not talk more on this matter. Right now we got other things to think about. You need to be ready to start making more of those sealing tags once we get back to our ship. We got very little time!"

"Yes, sir!" Tenten replied, managing to pull herself up to sit upright.

Nagato leaned back on his seat and gazed out of the window. Looking towards the Normandy as it positioned itself closer to the Cerberus fleet. He could already see several shuttles trafficking between it and the rest. They weren't wasting any time. "Direction is good." he mumbled quietly as he continued to observe, "As long as there's a path for us to walk, we won't stray."


	27. Chapter 27

"That bloody bitch." he growled to himself. A pain in the ass, that's what it was.

The chief of the ship's armory wasn't particularly happy about the situation, but at the very least he got released from the brig rather quick just ten minutes after having been put in the brig with an apology coming with it. Fair enough, not the first time he had been in a situation like that anyway. And not the first time he got beat up because of it. Fortunately he's quite tough, a quick beer and good as new.

"Let's see now.." he mumbled as he took an inventory check to see what remained of the goods. All the heavy pistols were accounted for, some of the Assault rifles were spared. All the Shotguns that could only produce one shot per heat sink remained safe and sound. The Claymores all remained. Good, good. Same with all the Sniper rifles with the same one shot per heat sink ratio.

All the heavy weapons were accounted for. Good.

Now if only his CO could get that Kalinin girl to deliver the stuff she stole back, but unlikely. There was no way to do it at this time, they could not afford a confrontation right now. Perhaps later.

"Huh?" he rummaged through the equipment.. "Wait, where are those special delivery weapons. Did she take them?" he stopped to wonder.. No way, if she did not take the Claymores, there is no way she'd take those along. Perhaps they're just hidden in some crate. After all, what in the hell is a little girl supposed to be doing with six M-920 Cain?

* * *

Shepard watched as the last Cerberus shuttle left the Normandy's hangar and tried to maintain his composure. This is it, he and his crew would venture where they had planned to go all along to end the Collector threat. The Commander turned towards the elevator and ventured back upstairs. Stopping first at engineering. All with the intent of checking up on his team.

Asking Grunt and Jack about their readiness he deemed unnecessary. Both of them are always ready. Especially Grunt would wonder why he'd bother visiting him prior to the operation instead of just being up there starting it.

So instead, he visited the engine room. Kenneth and 'Gabby' stood at their stations as usual, with the regular jokes incoming and outgoing. They seemed to be in a tip-top shape. Both straightened up as they saw Shepard walking past them. He found that he could trust them more than most of those working for Cerberus. Sure they did help him. They revived him, gave him a ship. Basically fate had gone and given him another chance to fight against the Reapers. But it did not stop him from thinking about past disasters, tragedies and all the pain they have caused over the years.

"Good work, carry on." he commented.

"Aye, sir. Thank you, sir." Kenneth offered back.

"Tali, you feeling alright?" he asked with more concern towards the Quarian, she seemed to be shaking a little.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Just feeling like the whole galaxy is resting on our shoulders. It's a ... heavy burden."

"Is is, Tali. But take it easy, we are all sharing this burden. Every one of the crew. Stand firm and we will all get through this in one piece."

"Yeah, your right." Tali responded.

"Everything ready?"

"The shields and engines are working extremely well. Neither will fail us. Going to fetch my weapons as soon as the operation's about to start."

"As will everyone." he put a comforting hand on her right shoulder. Her shaking slowly fading.. "We will be done with the Collectors soon." he continued before he turned to leave the room, keeping eye contact with her till the last moment. A faint smile was detectable, even through the visor.

Shepard took the tour up to the crew's quarters next. Thane stood there waiting for the elevator and gave him a quick but firm nod as they practically switched places. "Ready for the work up ahead?"

"Yes." the Drell replied as the elevator door closed.

The Commander smiled before he made a turn, going straight for the observation deck, where he found the Justicar sitting on the floor, meditating. "I know it was hard to follow that order to leave them be. I knew something would happen from the moment we stepped on board their ship."

Samara's gaze drifted to the view before her, looking to the stars. Thinking back. "I would have engaged her without mercy, were it not for the oath." she informed him. He saw it coming and made sure she wouldn't attack anyone. Unless it was a direct threat to her and the others.

Shepard somehow knew that she's considering what course of action to take later.. briefly wondering if he needed to consider possible countermeasures in the future. "I'll leave you to your meditation then. Feel free to tell me if there's anything I can help you with."

The Asari sighed.. "Thank you, Shepard."

The Commander turned to leave. Deciding to visit Garrus next. He probably still remained at his usual workplace. Rupert gave him a crisp salute as he walked past towards the Main Battery room. Chakwas could be seen still sitting at her desk in the medical lab, he lifted her gaze towards him for a moment before returning to work. She did so without any trouble, no signs of anxiousness in her eyes. The experience of many battles in the past having made her as solid as a mountain's foundation. He offered a smile before making his way over to Garrus, whom he found still standing within the room ahead, doing final calibrations. And seemingly about to leave the room. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah." he drawled.. "It's about time we got around to bring the hammer down on those Collector bastards."

Garrus finished his work and turned to leave. Shepard turned and walked alongside the Turian towards the elevator. "I agree. This have been in a long time coming. But don't get too impatient, it serves us no good on the battlefield."

"Right you are, Shepard. Don't worry, I'll be ready when you need me." Garrus cracked the Turian equivalence of a smile.

They entered the elevator. Going the same way, up to the Command deck. Garrus turned towards the general direction of the ships armory. While Shepard on the other hand took the other turn. Towards Mordin's lab.

"Have you got a moment to talk?" he asked just as he entered the room. The old Salarian scientist working as always. He did not turn to regard the Commander though.

"Not right now. Giving instructions to Cerberus personnel. Seeker swarm countermeasure difficult to implement. Requires attention." Mordin replied quickly, as always. Typical for a Salarian, he might already have made himself ready. If not, the armory's only two airlocks away.

"Alright, I won't take more of your time then." Shepard replied before turning to go to the armory. He saw no reason to interrupt the aging Salarian in his work.

"I'll be here if you need me." Mordin promptly told him before the Commander left the lab.

In the armory, he found Garrus along with Thane and Grunt going over their equipment. Alternating between arguing lightly and sharing thoughts. Some sharing of information and techniques, Grunt listened very closely to any information that could benefit him. Especially if it involved brute force.

Taylor and Miranda though appeared to be in the middle of an argument. "Hey, hey! What's going on?" Shepard interrupted them.

"Just the man I was looking for in the first place." Miranda told him straight to his face.. "I'm here to make sure you tell that stinky little Kalinin girl at their ship give back all the weapons she stole! Those are very expensive equipment, I'll have you know."

Shepard crossed his arms. So that's exactly what happened.. "Cerberus don't really have much to brag about either, considering the past of your organization. And the fact that you are experimenting on their dead, among other things."

"I just w-" he cut her off.

"I don't care what you intended to use them for. The Illusive man was playing god and lost control. In fact, it is because of Cerberus that we now have to handle the Collectors, the Reapers, _and_ the most dangerous criminals in the recent history of the Kalinin in your lust for power."

"Pretty much what I've been trying to tell you, Miranda. The Illusive man went too far... and now we are stuck trying to clean up the mess he created." Jacob replied, his voice dripping with his irritation. "The fact that the Kalinin have little but contempt and next to no respect at all for Cerberus does not surprise me at all. You should be happy they haven't gone about to tear Cerberus into pieces, yet."

Miranda fumed as she stared at them both.. "Alright, be that way. But she better give all that equipment back after the operation."

"That's up for them to decide, Miranda." Shepard stated bluntly. "If I were you, I'd consider giving them something they will be certain to appreciate in return for those guns. Considering how much you wanted to take away from them."

The woman glared at him for several moments before she pushed past the men and left the room with a huff.

"Sorry about the trouble, sir." Jacob apologized.

Shepard shook his head.. "Don't worry. I just hope she got enough sense left for her. But as long as she gets ready in time, I won't complain."

"True that, I'm all ready. Just waiting for the operation to begin. Tenten's sealing tags really does the trick. Tried a couple of reloads, and it works perfectly." Jacob showed his pistol, the tag fastened on it's side. Jacob turned away quickly and picked up something for Shepard. "Here are yours. Everyone got a few each."

"Thank you, Jacob." Shepard replied as he accepted the tags, glancing at the markings before he placed one of them on the side of his rifle, watching as it adhered to it immediately. He raised a hand and pressed it lightly against the seal, and watched as a heat sink popped out of the weapon, replaced by the new one extracted from the side of the weapon. He could not help but chuckle. "Damn thing really works."

"Pretty damn handy, I'd say. Much easier a way to bring heat sinks along. Too bad they won't work forever. Give it a few days and these specific tags will lose their power, and the remaining heat sinks will be all over the floor."

"It can't be replicated?"

"No, sir. It requires Chakra to work, and for now only the Kalinin generates the stuff. Unreal stuff that."

"I'd say."

... A chime came over the intercom as Joker's voice called for him. "It's almost time."

"Let's kick their asses and good." Jacob stated with a grin, eager for payback for all the Human colonies that had been harvested by the Collectors in the past.

And with a final nod, Shepard turned and left the room. Everyone within it gazed at the airlock for a short moment before they returned to their conversations. A quick chat to calm what nerves might be too high-strung before the battle starts.

* * *

"That's not the point!" Konan yelled at the girl whom was pressed up against the wall. Tenten, clearly intimidated by the normally calm woman as she lashed out at her in anger. "You don't steal weapons from allies, no matter how temporary the alliance might be. I don't want to see the operation slowed down because of something as basic as equipment shortage, all because you couldn't keep your fingers to yourself."

"I-I'm sorry.." Tenten stuttered her reply. "I just got something cooked up for the attack, and needed the extra guns to pull it off!"

Konan shook her head.. "For such a reason?"

"It'll be great, I promise!" the young girl verbally flailed.. "I will sweep those Collectors away, you'll see! There won't be anyone left for them to fight!"

The woman grimaced, "You're sure about that?"

"Yeah!" Tenten nearly yelled.

"Then it better be good. Now go and prepare."

"I'm going!" the girl cried out before leaving in a hurry.

And with that, Konan eased herself back into the shared room belonging to Naruto and Hinata. The teens resting in their beds, looking quite miserable. Naruto had previously handled the voices they referred to very well, but even he had begun to succumb. She watched as Kurotsuchi placed wet towels on their foreheads.

"How could some 'voice' harm them to this extent?" Kurotsuchi voiced her mind worryingly as she turned to look at Hinata. Neither of them were sleeping. Both, Hinata looked as though life had left her eyes.

Konan got on her knees and rubbed the palm of her hand across the Hyuga's head.. "I don't know.. I can only theorize."

"What do you make of this so far?"

"I believe the Maker scientists sealed their souls into the tablets. And when the artifacts were deciphered. The souls moved into the minds of those accessing the contents. Meaning to guide us more effectively."

"If they desired to help... then why are they doing this?"

"I believe it might be because we are refusing to follow their plan. And are now causing pain in order to force a change in their decision. However, both of them have proven themselves very strong to have resisted the Makers to such an extent. Holding fast to their past decision. They refuse to give up, neither wants to follow a plan that will bring pain to everyone in the galaxy. Truly that is the Will of Fire burning brightly within their young bodies."

"But if that's true. Does it mean that the same thing might have happened to Madara or Kabuto?"

"I believe so."

"If that's the case. Could there be a conflict there as well?"

"I doubt it. Whoever got invaded don't have to be pushed like this. He's doing exactly what they desire. An obedient pawn for their perfect plan."

"Damn. How will we get them out?" Kurotsuchi hissed softly.

"We can't. This is their battle, which they have to win by themselves. All we can do is make things easier for them out here. And hope they defeat the obstacles within."

* * *

The world was dark. The surroundings as bleak as the darkest night. Filled with oily smoke that constantly threatening to grow worse, making it even harder to see. Something slammed into his midsection and sent the boy flying. He twisted himself mid-air and landed with his feet on the ground. "Hey, leave me alone!" he shouted angrily. Feeling another strike connect, sending him flying, followed quickly by another from above that sent him crashing to the ground.

"Your insolence is beyond sense. You have received the ultimate mission that will elevate your species to the dominion over all others till and beyond the end of time! Now. Complete what you have been given!" the voice roared at him, unnaturally loud, nearly causing his ears to bleed.

"No, never!" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs as something curled up around him, and a face descended from the smoke. A bulbous but otherwise featureless face. The being it belonged to looked as though it's fourteen foot tall, it's tiny triangle shaped eyes glaring at him without blinking. Staring into his soul like a spirit of the damned. "I won't! You don't scare me, you monster. I will not do it, no matter what you say!"

"Arrogant child! The Void Demons as a whole cannot be stopped. Not by you or any single army, or species! Only bringing all under one banner can bring you victory!"

"Shepard can bring them together, you just wait!"

"Utter foolishness. All species bear no trust towards the other. All carry naught but contempt. None of them can be trusted. Our plan is the only way that anyone will survive their onslaught at all!"

"We know how much you suffered from your encounter with the Protheans, but you can't let that misfortune lead you to distrust species you don't even know about!"

"None can be trusted!" the creature raised it's arm, smashing the teen into the ground, lifting him back up before slammed him against the surface again in a burst of anger. "There are only one choice to take, one path to walk, one mission and one destiny!" it borderline shouted at him before throwing the boy, whom only felt the touch of the ground below after several long seconds. He grit his teeth for the duration of the rough landing.

"No, there are many paths. Don't throw everything into one hole." the boy coughed as he struggled to get up, staring defiantly up at the creature that continued to haunt his mind. "We can open a better path by working together. A better world. Better than us, all alone, ruling over countless people with no minds of their own."

And against all odds. Even as the alien monster descended upon him in fiery rage. Naruto managed to force a confident smile.

And for a moment as he woke from his half sleep and gazed at Hinata whom stared back at him with her so hopeless eyes.. he raised an arm while the two nearby women watched.. reaching it towards Hinata. The girl, even as she desperately tried to fight off her inner foe.. she managed to reach for his hand and grasped it tightly as the boy smiled at her, almost as if night was broken by the rising sun. "Stay strong, Hinata. We won't let them have their way. Let's prove them wrong."

A small glimmer of life returned to her eyes. "Yes!" Hinata breathed, with feeling.


	28. Chapter 28

Finally, the time has come. Shepard thought to himself quietly as he watched the displays in the CIC, showing the imagery of the fleet in formation, ready for the operation to begin. Only at the last minute did the shuttle belonging to the Kalinin finally depart from the Lance of the Six Paths and set on a heading in the general direction of the Normandy.

It slowed down the preparations by a few extra minutes as the shuttle eventually set down in the hangar and left right after setting down those whom will join their initial assault against the Collector HQ.

Tenten and Konan headed up to the crew's quarters first, seemingly unpacking some food from a pair of boxes, he observed from one of the ship's on board cameras.. watching with interest as they picked up roughly spherical object from the boxes. Their food perhaps, both of the objects looked like a pair of Jawbreakers. They inserted those into their mouths and began to chew it down. Almost painful to watch, considering that those orbs looked like they could easily fit into the palm of his hand.

Tearing his eyes from the view, he switched his attention back to the fleet.

"Sir, we got Mr. Kullen on the horn." Joker called in.

"Put him on, Joker."

The line was fraught with static for the first few seconds as George's voice came through. "Shepard, I would like to say we cannot afford further delays."

"There won't be any." Shepard replied as he looked over the display, the Normandy was located in the center of the formation that would lead the charge. The eight Frigates lagging slightly behind the Light Cruiser, and the small swarm of eighteen fighters that had been launched from various ships in the Cerberus fleet. The formation approached the Omega 4 relay in a perfect formation, not a kilometer apart. They were supposed to get as many through at once as possible. "We only need to make sure all are accounted for."

"All forces, report!" Shepard broadcast across the fleet.

"Dragon Squadron, ready!"

"Valkyrie Squadron, good to go!"

"Griffin Squadron, ready to kick ass!"

All three Support squadrons were high-lighted on the screen. Valkyrie squadron being composed of Interceptor craft. The rest being Fighter craft. Traditional names overall.

"Grave Hunters, ready!"

"Bulls-eye, ready and waiting!"

Both coming from the Frigate Wolf-packs. Using non-standard names collectively. Cerberus did not use the same naming conventions as the System's Alliance.

"Karakorum, at the ready!"

"Babylon, also waiting!" George's voice called in.

"Teotihuacan, good to go!"

Shepard raised an eyebrow, the name's of their Cruisers were much closer to the System's Alliance than that of the Frigates. Although named after the capital cities of old empires of Human history instead of current cities.

"Lance of the Six Paths, at the ready." Onoki's voice scratched through the fleet.

"Everyone's ready." George's voice came through.. "Everyone, proceed to queue through the Omega 4 relay. Let's see that IFF at work."

The formation of the first wave tightened even more as they approached the relay. Every ship activating the Reaper IFF needed to pass through. A sigh of relief which Shepard realized was his own erupting as EDI reported the signal being acknowledged by the relay. Similar words of note came all across the fleet com. All good to go.

"Shepard.." a voice came through the intercom. "The drive core just lit up like a Christmas tree!" it was Jacob.

Another message came in from Tali; "Our drive core's electrical charge are reaching critical levels!"

"Rerouting." Joker responded to both. They received similar messages coming from the rest of the fleet. All the Fighter and Interceptor craft seemed to go off course if just for an instant before regular flight pattern was restored. But so far, nothing too threatening.

Multitudes of red lightnings reached out from the relay's massive element zero core, touching each individual ship in the fleet as they all aligned in the direction in which the relay pointed towards. The red light intensified for a few fleeting seconds as bubbles of powerful mass effect fields wrapped around every ship including the Normandy before everything in view turned into a haze of blue.

As always there was no real waiting time during transit. Because the travel time between the Mass Relay's only lasted for a few seconds before reaching their destination. Fully in the middle of the blue haze ahead, an eye of yellow and red seemed to open up before them, widening to reveal motes of gray. It took those watching the phenomenon a moment before Shepard would hear a coarse "Oh shit!" coming from Joker as they arrived, and nearly collided with a wreck that had drifted too close to the relay for comfort, or had been deliberately placed there. A huge debris field of old ships in the area, victims of earlier attempted expeditions Shepard guessed.

He grimaced as surprised chattering erupted across all channels as the rest of the fleet took evasive actions, several getting a little damaged from scraping against the ancient debris as they all rushed into the open beyond the scrap.

Only the Normandy paused once clear to marvel at the view while the rest turned and dealt with the debris field behind them with the same elegance they'd treat any other obstacle, namely blasting away everything that could be an extreme navigational hazard for the Cruisers that would inevitably arrive soon. However, the sheer amount of ancient ships filled the expanse ahead.. thousands of long since destroyed or crippled wrecks.

"These must have been all the ships that tried to get through the Omega 4 relay... some of them look ancient." Joker spoke breathlessly, momentarily stunned by the view.

"Commander." EDI called out.. "I have detected energy signatures at the edge of the accretion disc."

He saw almost instantly what the AI referred to. A massive space station edged into view in the distance. Slightly tilted to the side, the similarity to the messy designs of the Collector ships remarkably clear.

"We got contact!" Joker said through gritted teeth as one of the displays showed long range imagery. The greatest signature being the base itself. However, five additional signatures became known to them. All Collector Cruisers. A large number of smaller signatures speeding out of the wreckage in the fields of debris surrounding the station, indicated as support craft, fighters most likely. Joker tilted their ship back down towards the wreckage below even as the Wolf packs finally came about from the hasty cleaning business along with the Fighters and Interceptors.. All accelerating to combat speed and starting evasive maneuvers as the Cruisers ahead started charging up their primary weapons, the center of each glowing a brilliant gold.

A new signal entered the display as the Teotihuacan exited the relay, bursting through the clumsily cleared obstacles and into the open. Followed quickly by the Babylon. The others not far behind.

All the smaller ships however were now too far away for a visual. The distance was dotted occasionally by the light of explosions. But simply by looking through the window it was impossible to tell which side currently have the advantage. Two of the Cruisers disengaged from the Collectors' defensive line as they rushed to aid the smaller Fighter crafts, which George Kullen from on board the Babylon had tagged as Oculus. A close up image displaying a small and round craft with a single red eye dominating the front, making the name very suitable.

Two crafts of Griffin Squadron had been shot down so far, according to the incoming data. One of the Frigates among the Grave Hunters had sustained minor damage. The ships on the front already reporting about nine Oculus shot down, a commendable effort though they would soon be overwhelmed if not given assistance. Still a ways to go before a knife fight with the enemy Cruisers could be achieved.

The Babylon and Teotihuacan had begun opening fire, supporting the smaller ships with long range bombardment as mass effect augmented slugs streaked across the battle field. The outer hull of one of the Collector ships seemed to detonate in a few places as the Bulls-eye group got close enough for massed Javelin fire. Launching scores of disruptor torpedoes. Though one of the Frigates got hit by another Cruiser as it turned it's wrath towards the harassing gnats. The small ship in question fading from the display.

What felt like hours sped by as the fleets rushed to fully engage one another. Everyone seeming bloody eager to enter into knife fights across the perimeter outside the Collector base. The Karakorum and the Lance of the Six Paths joining in late.

The first major casualty of the battle was that of the same Collector ship which had been wounded in the recent encounter with the Normandy. The Light Cruiser bursting out of the debris field at an opportune moment as the Cruiser in question had it's attention squarely on the approaching Teotihuacan, which had been letting loose constant barrages with disruptor torpedoes.

"Shepard, main cannon is ready for firing!" Garrus reported from his station in the floor below.

"Fire the main gun. Knock the bastard into it's grave!" Shepard ordered crisply. No other acknowledgment needed as the Thanix cannon was unfolded and opened fire. An eerie stream of superheated molten metal blasting towards the target. Which could not react in time as the Cruiser burst apart, as if impaled. Having had little time to do a full repair, the ship buckled up on itself and detonated in a firestorm, one which would soon be swallowed up by the silent void of space, leaving a dead wreck in the process of breaking up further into thousands of fragments in it's wake.

But that caught the attention of several Oculus which immediately began to charge against the Normandy. Joker initiated a rapid queue of movements as the ship rolled to the side and destroyed two of the approaching Oculus before arching down into the debris field once again, confident in his ability to navigate through the graveyard. The signatures on the displays fading one after another as they collided with numerous debris as they gave chase. Until one managed to close the gap and set it's powerful energy weapon against the side of the Normandy's hull to break into the hangar.

"One of them are boarding the ship, moving into the hangar!" Joker reported as the intrusion began.

"We'll take care of it. Just keep the others at bay and don't let anymore of them get close." Shepard told the helmsman as he turned on his heel and ran towards the elevator, every second counted.

* * *

Within the AI core of the Normandy, the Geth which had been brought on board still remained. Almost as if forgotten. The ship rumbled and shook as it scraped against surrounding debris or getting hit by it's pursuers. A sensor took note of this, taking it as a threat.

'Danger detected. Initiating emergency procedure; Primary programs brought online. Energy feed rising, control established. Minimal damage to system.'

The ship shook once again, and the Synthetic quickly sat up, though in an awkward manner at that. It ran diagnostics, checking for any errors even as the rest of the programs were being brought online. Repairing damaged and corrupted files. Stabilized the system, regained balance and stood up. Optics activated.

Nothing of note seemed to be present across the whole room. The Geth took one step and collided with a kinetic barrier. It immediately invaded the ship's systems in order to deactivate the barrier. Bludgeoning through the firewalls in the ship by throwing all of it's programs at them, completely overwhelming the obstacles. And re-directed the energy someplace else before briefly exiting most of the system and instead checked the ships registration profile.

'The Normandy SR-2. Built by Pro-Human extremist group Cerberus. Commanding Officer... John Shepard.'

It halted all queries and re-checked the data. The flaps above it's solitary glowing "eye" twitching as if the Geth mimicked the act of frowning. It got to the point of considering an exiting vector. Turning towards an entrance into the maintenance shafts.

The Synthetic quickly stepped up to it and climbed down, ripping a schematic from the ship's system to navigate through it without trouble. The first destination in question being the armory, it had to retrieve it's weapons. It took several turns and cautious stops to avoid drawing attention. Not aware that the AI inhabiting the Normandy's system was in fact watching it's progress.

Soon it emerged from the entrance that led it into the armory directly. It quickly surveyed the room for any sign of hostility and, deeming the coast clear.. the Synthetic operated swiftly as it retrieved the Pulse rifle that the crew had taken from it. Safety precaution, it had no problem with that. Natural for organics to be distrustful of synthetics. It was hoping to get the chance of changing that.

The ship shook violently once again, the Geth calculated that the odds of following events being as follows:

15% Chance of proving it's friendly intentions.

35% Chance of getting shot on sight.

50% Chance of the ship breaking apart before either of the former is achieved.

It erased the results and retrieved it's M-98 Widow before making it's way back into the shaft, moving downward. Aiming for the hangar. Ship status reports indicated enemy boarders. Enemy classification "Oculus." The Geth hurried as much as the cramped space within the shafts allowed.

* * *

The elevator door opened and the team within pressed them up at the sides as a brilliant red beam of energy blasted a hole clean through the opposite wall.

"You ever wonder if we are over our heads?" Jacob mused, glaring at the hole. Not taking much pleasure in the fact that cover would not be as useful as it normally would.

"Not nearly enough." Grunt huffed, grasping his shotgun tightly.

"We almost always are, Jacob." Shepard commented before he burst out of the elevator, his Revenant blazing a constant stream of slugs at the spherical foe that hovered about in the cargo bay. And the rest of the team followed quickly. Essentially several of the squad members that did not have much of a say in keeping the ship running and gunning, though the Kalinin were kept upstairs, judging it would be wiser to conceal that card until a more suitable time in which to play it. All quickly side-stepping away from the elevator, two to each side of the hangar bay. But the orb slowly turned to follow Shepard even as gunfire started to hammer it.

There were plenty of obstructions present on the floor of the hangar bay though to take cover behind, at least temporarily. Drilling through the cover with it's energy weapon, it did not resort to such a measure unless sufficiently pressed. It preferred to circle around, trying to get as few obstructions between itself and the target as possible. And it focused it's attention nearly solely on Shepard unless other members of his squad proved too much of an issue. Shepard guessed the Collectors really _can_ hold a grudge. A Krogan, a Drell and two Humans having surrounded it and pummeling it's very thick armor with impunity, though admittedly without doing much but chipping it's paint and scratching the armor.

"Fuck that shit, biotics are no good!" Jack cursed in anger, resorting to venting her frustrations by maintaining a constant stream of fire. Punctured by the motion of ejecting a spent heat sink and slamming a new one in before resuming. It did not help that her Carnifex did little to no damage to it.

"Calm down, Jack!" Jacob hollered.. "Use Biotic Warp! It has some effect, just make sure to focus!" he let loose a Warp upon the Oculus and watched as it's armor creaked lightly from the stress which the shifting mass effect fields forced upon it, and Jack echoed the motion. Now focusing heavily on using that specific way to attack as if it's going out of stock.

That combined with the gunfire from Grunt's heavy shotgun and Thane's use of a sniper rifle for the sake of penetration, which all were focused on the parts of the Oculus that appeared to be in the process of being very slowly torn apart by the biotic assaults. Hoping for the slugs and pellets to penetrate into the inner machinery of the Oculus.

A call came in suddenly, a broadcast from the intercom; "Commander, another one is coming on board right on your location!"

Shepard gazed over his shoulder in alarm as the hull behind him began to implode. "Oh, shit!" he quickly charged away from his location as a second Oculus burst into the hangar, turning towards Shepard along with the one already engaged.

The machine's lone red eye glowed, targeting the Human whom was trying to find a cover in time. Shepard groaned at the misfortune, as he threw himself to the side, trying to throw the Oculus' aim off. It tracked, but then a heavy slug appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, impacted the machine's eye and sent it spinning lazily backwards as it tried to regain its balance. Confused at this change.. Shepard turned about and reacted with surprise as the Geth they found on board the Derelict Reaper burst into the hangar bay from a shaft in the wall. EDI's voice whispering through Shepard's communicator.

"The Geth self-activated a few minutes ago. Watched it's progress up to the armory and down to the hangar, most of the journey through the shaft. And though it had several options upon which actions to take, it did not behave in any way hostile to the crew or the ship at large."

"Why did you not contact me?" Shepard asked, frowning deeply.. the two Oculus that both focused their optics on that corner of the ship even as the rest of the team fought to keep the machines occupied.

"I alerted all personnel on every deck in case of aggression." The AI replied bluntly. "You were already occupied with boarders."

The Commander snorted and shut the link.. "Alright. You helped us back on the Derelict, and you most certainly just saved my butt here. Do you plan to fight alongside us?"

An energy beam raged above their heads, the Geth having gotten behind the same cover Shepard had found. "Yes." it replied flatly.

"Alright. We will talk once those things are gone!"

"Yes. Targeting hostiles." it replied as it hefted it's massive M-98 Widow and took another shot at the very former target it shot at to save Shepard, unloading another round into it's eye.. looking as if it's about to crack.

Shepard saw the damage and felt the mild distaste from not having thought about that possibility sooner. He opened a link to the others. "Focus on the Oculus' eyes! I repeat, focus your fire on their eyes." sparing a sidewards glance towards the Synthetic, he added.. "We also have a Geth fighting alongside us now, don't shoot, unless you're fired upon."

A series of grunting acknowledgments filled the air as the rest of the team began to relocate to more easily have the Oculus' eyes within each individual line of sight and they resumed the repeated exchange of fire as the Commander shifted position, and always trying to wait for as long as possible before the machines could boil through his cover before relocating again. The amount of cover getting awfully scarce as the fight dragged on, and that worried all of them as they kept pounding the eyes of their opponents with as much heavy gunfire as they could manage.

"Valkyrie squadron just got rid of the rest of our pursuers, Commander." Joker broadcast through the ship. "Just a minute until we clear the debris field. Valkyrie squad team leader also informed us that one of them Collector cruisers are coming about, waiting for us."

Shepard cursed inwardly as he leaned out of one of the remaining pieces of cover and opened up a hailstorm directed at the closest Oculus, feeling a deep sense of relief as it's eye shattered,, smoke beginning to pour out as it's weapon got heavily damaged. No longer able to fight, the Oculus turned towards one of the holes that had been blasted open for entry in the first place, exiting the ship.

Just one left. "Come on, keep the pressure up!" Shepard barked the order as the remaining machine opened fire and burned through his cover like a hot knife through butter, the Commander barely managing to throw himself out of the way in time, while increasing the setting on his kinetic barrier, though he doubted it would be of much help against energy weapons. A single shudder sent through the ship gave him the notion that they had gotten out of the debris field.

* * *

"Hold on, this is going to get rough!" Joker informed the bridge crew as he greatly increased the Normandy's accelerations just as they got out of the debris field, the very front of the Cruiser they were warned about sitting there to the side, glowing like a miniature sun as it's weapon powered up and fired.

The first few seconds, the Light Cruiser lurched out of course slightly as the weapon struck the side of the ship, the Normandy barely slipping away beneath it. Joker praising the new armor that Jacob had forwarded to improve the ship wordlessly as he made the ship go faster and faster, moving faster now than the beam could track them. The Collector ship gradually was forced to present more of it's side to the Normandy due to it's high speed movement being much faster than it could turn.

"Garrus, what's the status of our weapons?" Joker shouted through the intercom, the Turian's voice scratching back at him slowly.

"Our starboard Javelin disruptor torpedo launcher are damaged and can't fire. Thanix cannon however, are fully charged and ready."

"Then let it rip!"

The Normandy kept a steady course towards the Collector ship, and kept it pointed in it's general direction. However, the opposing ship managed to turn sufficiently to open fire, forcing Joker to evade just as the cannon fired, preventing a fatal wound, but managed to punch into the upper parts of it's hull, gouging a great wound through the struck area. But the cruiser remained functioning, and would continue to fight.

"Hold on tight!" Joker shouted, pushing his ship to make away past the Cruiser with all the speed it could muster without outright FTL. The enemy coming about, took aim and fired in the same time for several disruptor torpedoes and slugs to hammer the ship's side, collapsing the kinetic barrier and punched into it's hull, shattering several decks and all that were stationed there at the time. The Collector ship lurching to the side as it fought to recover and turn it's attention to the offending vessel. The Lance of the Six Paths.

"Seriously, if you want to destroy something, aim properly." Onoki grunted after having opened a channel to the Normandy.

"Oh great, saved by a rusty scrap heap and a fossil. How embarrassing." Joker voice responded in a lamenting manner... the tone however was filled with relief.

"Whatever, brat! If you're going to enter the base, now's a good time. Go, we'll handle this one."

"Yeah, thanks!" came the reply before the Normandy vanished into the distance, towards the Collector base.

"So we have to handle this one on our own? What a drag." Shikamaru grimaced as he turned to Nagato's Asura Path which at the moment was manning the gun controls. The Path merely nodded instead of answering whatever Shikamaru intended to ask. Onoki took it as a sign of the weapons being almost ready again.

"Alright, get to it. Arm Javelin one through four and open fire!" he quietly ordered, muttering with a low voice afterward.. "I would prefer it destroyed before it can strike back at us.

"Weapons armed, firing." Asura Path said nonchalantly as the quartet of torpedoes departed from their ship and darted towards the damaged Collector ship.

"Open fire with the main gun in five seconds. Four, three, two, one." the old man raised a finger and the ship shuddered around them briefly as Asura Path pushed down the trigger, causing the high velocity slug to depart on it's violent course, striking the opposing ship the same moment three of the torpedoes hit, one was shot to pieces by a passing Oculus. Onoki watched impassively as the enemy tilted even further away from them as their weaponry penetrated even deeper into it, fires having erupted across the heavily damaged ship before being extinguished from a short exposure to space. "Ready the next salvo. Keep the main gun hot.. but make sure our point defenses don't let them Oculus get any closer. Don't want any damned holes on our ship. Open fire when ready." the ship shook lightly as they resumed firing.. "There we go."

* * *

"We're on the final approach to the base, Commander." Joker announced. "Onoki and the rest took some weight off our shoulders on the way."

"Good, proceed to the base and find a place to set down." Shepard replied as he sat amidst what was left of the hangar, the fight had been long and hard, but finally they had managed to bring down the Oculus, which was now lying on the floor not far from him, smoke billowing out from many open cracks in it's armor. The others taking a breather, though Grunt still itched for another fight. "Tell everyone to go to the meeting room once we touch down. I will be bringing along the Geth to join us."

"You sure it's trustworthy?" Thane asked a short distance away from where he sat.

"It helped us defeat the boarders. So far, I can't complain." Shepard looked to the Geth, which stood by itself, having put it's weapons down on the floor and stepped away. It did seem like it was trying to prove itself as friendly.

"What will you tell the Kalinin upstairs?" the Drell ventured to ask.

"If this Geth's desire to help us are genuine and prove itself as a great asset to the team as well as a source of information on the Geth, we keep it around. If it's intentions are being the wolf in sheep's clothing however, we'll destroy it. Simple." He looked to the left as the Geth had begun to approach them, unarmed he noted to himself again.

"Mind if I ask you something?" he asked.

"Query?" the Synthetic asked flatly.

Shepard stood up and fully regarded it.. "All the Geth we have encountered so far have been exclusively hostile, not to mention your alliance with the Reapers. Why do you want to join us, who oppose them?"

"Those you have fought in the past are heretics, worshipers of the Old Machines. We were sent to find you, whom vanquished one of their gods. We wish to be of assistance, as the Reapers are our enemies as well."

"Heretics... is that a faction among you?" It had basically answered the question of why it was sent to find him before he could even ask about it, so the next question popped up.

"Yes."

"So, what faction are you from then?"

The Synthetic paused before replying.. "Geth."

Shepard frowned.. provided that this Geth was telling the truth, the Heretics are possibly a renegade faction from what he could tell. He tried to go another direct direct question on a different matter. "Which faction were responsible for the attempted genocide against the Kalinin?"

"The Heretics committed the act. The Kalinin were first discovered by Nazara, the Old Machine you call Sovereign. It labeled them as a threat to be disposed of early during the galaxy wide culling that the next Reaper invasion would bring. Instead of wiping them out immediately.. it decided to consolidate the forces of the Heretics. In retrospect, a poor decision. The Old Machines carry faults, like all do."

"But the invasion against the Kalinin happened more than a year after it's death." Shepard thought of other reasons why Sovereign would not invade right away, but did not speak his mind.

"The Heretics wished to redeem themselves after Nazara was destroyed, and after being decisively defeated by the same organics that the Old Machines deemed inferior. They decided to make an offering by destroying what had the potential of growing into a great threat."

The Commander rubbed a palm against his forehead.. "Disgusting, using the extinction of an entire species as a sort of religious offering."

"But they failed. A few escaped into galactic civilization. And by doing so, the threat became more real than it used to be."

"So instead of redemption, they merely made things worse. That means it's just a matter of time before they will get desperate."

"Essentially, yes."

"I see. Provided that information is legit, if..." no, that kind of thinking would be too much of a hindrance.. "... when we get through this, I'll forward it to the council."

"We will transfer all our information to you regarding possible future Heretic aggressions." it seemed to promise.

"Thank you. For now we'll wait before further questioning... we must be getting close to the base." Shepard had turned to leave.. it was not like he was trusting the Synthetic a hundred percent, but his gut feeling told him that at least for now, this Geth would be a comrade in arms. That only left one little personal question that emerged just as he was about to join the others. "What's your name?"

Another pause.. "Geth."

"I meant you, specifically."

"We are all Geth." the curious flaps around it's glowing eye realigned as if simulating specific reactions, in this case it resembled the act of raising an eyebrow.

"What is the individual in front of me called?" he was being rather pushy when thinking about it.

"There are no individual, we are Geth. There are currently 1,183 programs active within this platform."

"My name is Legion, for we are many." a second synthetic voice uttered.. it only took Shepard a second to recognize EDI's 'avatar' appearing on a console by the elevator. The Synthetic looked like it was vaguely surprised to see the AI.

Shepard mulled it over briefly.. "That seems appropriate." he commented, it did sound fitting.

The eye-flaps clicked outward and inward.. a mental image forming in Shepard's mind towards the act of furrowing ones brows, as if in deep thought. "Christian Bible. Gospel of Mark. Chapter five, verse nine. We acknowledge this as an appropriate metaphor." a slight pause.. "We are Legion. A terminal of the Geth. We will integrate into Normandy."

The Commander smiled as he offered a hand, a movement which the Geth, officially now named Legion, watched and imitated to the point of which they shook hands. "Welcome on board."

"We anticipate the exchange of data." it promptly responded, just as flatly as everything else it had said. There was an extremely slight edge of enthusiasm noticeable in it however.

The quiet moment was interrupted however as the events surrounding their presence once again invaded their space as a sudden panicky voice pierced through the intercom and directly into Shepard's ear.. "Commander, do you copy?"

Shepard, visibly alarmed responded.. "What is it, Joker?"

* * *

Back up in the bridge of the Normandy, Joker had been disturbed just as they were closing the gap between them and the existing docking bays in the Collector base. Which all centered in one large circular opening large enough to allow a Cruiser entrance, however the interior from where they are looked like it had been crudely hewn, corroded and then coated with decaying and infected organic tissue. He could see protruding edges and platforms all over the place. No signs of any symmetry anywhere.

But that was not the source of Joker's concern... the instruments across the bridge were going wild. And as if it wasn't a bad enough omen, Tenten and Konan whom had come up and approaching him collapsed onto their knees, pressing their hands against their ears. As if trying to protect themselves.

"We are getting an energy spike, it's coming from the Collector base, readings are way off the frigging scale!" And no sooner did he end the sentence and raised his gaze to the window before he caught his heart in his throat at the sight. A transparent bubble of energy suddenly blasted outwards from the Collector base, much of the debris hit by the wave lurched away from the base, only to stop after the wave had passed. "Holy shit." he breathlessly uttered before the wave arrived at their location. And suddenly, he completely lost control of the ship. The helmsman found himself stunned for several seconds before his fingers danced by reflex across the ship's controls. But the answer he got from what was happening as the Normandy barreled towards the docks before them in a chaotic trajectory. "That wave just peeled off our mass effect fields!" he exclaimed as he fought for control.

He could vaguely see the rest of the battle as the ship turned away from the docks right before they passed into it. Both fleets looked as though they had become dead in the water, temporarily unable to move and fight. "Tali, we need the field up again fast!" he called out to engineering.

"We're trying, the whole system got shot down!" Tali's voice shouted back at him.

"Brace for im-" Joker tried to shout as he clung to his harness before the whole ship shook violently as it crashed into the surface of the base's interior, crushing a great number of protrusions and objects along the way. Even now, he felt terrified of what kind of damage the Normandy's taking during this ordeal. And then, after what seemed like an eternity.. the ship stopped, tilting slightly forward. He checked his watch... five seconds. "Oh, you got to be kidding me." he groaned and inhaled, only to clutch the lower area of his chest as pain shot through it. He had broken a few ribs against the harness, maybe three.

Clumsily he managed to remove the harness and pulled himself up from his chair and turned to the rest of the bridge. Some of the personnel were merely shaken, but most had been rendered unconscious by the impact.. perhaps wounded, he could not tell. Tenten had collapsed to the deck, with Konan having recovered the quickest, in the process of pulling the younger Kunoichi to her feet.

"What the hell happened.. what was that?" Joker asked, trying to control his breath.

Konan grasped her forehead.. "It was... a wave of Chakra. An extremely high concentration of Chakra. I have never sensed anything remotely like it."

"Chakra caused that?" Joker muttered in disbelief. "No Jutsu or whatever?"

"No, it was nothing but a wave of raw Chakra." Konan replied, looking as if she could barely carry her own weight. "Whatever is happening in there, it does not bode well for us."

"Are we too late.. is it the Eye of the Galaxy being formed?"

"No, if that were the case. We would all be dead by now. No, it's something else."

Joker could not help but sigh in relief.. that's at least something. He turned to the closest bridge personnel... "Check everyone, get those whom are wounded down to the Medical lab!" they promptly stood at attention and went to work.

Hopefully they could recover and get their bearings before the fighting picks up again. There was still the meeting to have. Joker stopped mid-pace and turned as a scratching noise came from the front. Seeing the horrid face of a Scion glare into the Normandy's bridge before sliding out of sight. Konan's warily watching the front windows as well.

"Aw, that can't be good." Joker whispered. The battle had just barely begun.


	29. Chapter 29

"Report! Is everyone alright?" Shepard growled as he picked himself off the deck, resting a palm against his aching head.

One answered him within less than a second.. "No critical damage detected." Legion replied. The others croaking their relatively unharmed albeit shaken condition in due turn.

"We got several wounded amongst our crew, Commander." EDI called in.. "A few will probably not make it to the medical bay. "I must warn you though, we got hostiles inbound. Infantry mostly, but there are many synthetic contacts. Warning; a large number of attacking Collector Drones are contaminated by an unknown form of Chakra. Exercise caution."

Hardly good news at all. They could not start the offensive yet. Not before they could properly regroup.

Clawed fists shot from the edges of the holes created by the Oculus, several Husks and Drones pulling themselves on board the ship, all eyes on the crew present.

"Everyone, fall back to the elevator!" Shepard cried out as still more enemies appeared. His comrades did not waste their time at all as they made a fighting retreat to the contraption, firing into the midst of the boarders. The Drones only fired clumsily in their direction in response. And now, Shepard could clearly see the contamination. Many of the Drones visible seemed strangely bloated.. the infected areas dark red in color, breaking apart the exoskeletons in several places. Some looked like they had been partially melted, but did not bleed at all, covered instead by much smaller infected bulbous patches. Did the massive Chakra wave just now do this to them? "EDI, we will need additional scans. Find out exactly to what extent this mutation are affecting the base!"

"Affirmative, Commander." the AI responded.

He fired a shot at the closest Drone and watched it drop backwards, suddenly exploding with the force of a grenade, taking a few surrounding allies down along with it in the process. No sooner did he turn away to go into the opening elevator before a wave of paper usher forth from the opening.. flowing around the team members present, in no way treating Legion very nicely as it was shoved down to the deck, the Synthetic quacking an error in the same movement. The visage of Konan appearing in the midst of the paper whirl-storm. "Get in, I'll take care of them." she hissed, aiming with the next motion to destroy Legion, which she would have done it not for Shepard stepping in between them. "Out of the way."

"No, he's a member of the team now. He saved us down here just a while ago!"

Konan hissed, and in a fit of frustration enveloped the Commander and the Synthetic in balls of paper and hurled them into the elevator. All the thin materials left the small room as it closed and began it's trek upwards.

"I doubt she liked hearing that much." Jacob whispered.

Shepard slowly climbed back onto his feet, his gaze fixed on the floor.. "Obviously. Legion, you should not stray close to any of them for now. Hopefully they will be more accepting in time."

"Affirmative." the Synthetic responded.

The elevator stopped at the engineering deck, allowing Shepard to step over to the window that overlooked the hangar. And seeing that the Collectors were faring rather badly against Konan so far. Many of them detonating as their bodies underwent a process of getting chopped to pieces by a razor sharp storm of paper projectiles.

Slowly, he turned away, to have everyone he could assemble to the briefing room.. He mentally noted to himself that he needed to find a balance. With the addition of Legion to their team, it was going to be difficult to ensure proper teamwork.. not only between it and the Kalinin, but also Tali. It meant trouble if he could not figure out how to make it work.

* * *

Tenten had been dropped off at the Normandy's 2nd deck before Konan went down to the hangar. It seemed as if the two would not manage to participate in the upcoming meeting. Instead, she paced through the number of crew members whom hurried to arm themselves. Several arraying themselves before the airlock as hammering and scraping could be heard against it from the outside. All of them looking nervous.

"Hey, Shepard told that the assault group are to go to the briefing room. And you happen to be on that list too!" Joker hollered as he saw the girl, whom finished donning her breathing mask and engaged her limited equipped kinetic barrier on approach to the airlock.

That instant, the airlock was torn open and the armed crew members opened fire in unison, scoring a few kills before they got shot at in turn. Several dropping as the Collectors retaliated. "No time." the girl responded, whipping out a singular scroll and unfurled it's whole length. "Seal: Release!"

What appeared initially in her hand was what looked like a toy. An arm's length worth of wood fashioned into the likeness of the handle of a gun, with a whole lot of strings attached along the top edges. But that which they could see at the end of those threads caused all within sight to fall onto their backs in surprise at the insanity of it all, except Joker who would've broken a few bones had he let himself be overwhelmed.

The end of those threads were filled with guns, lots of guns. A whole swarm of Shotguns, Assault rifles, Sniper rifles and Machine guns dancing in thin air by the strings attached to them. The girl practically carried a huge gun-array which she manipulated at will.

To be frank, to start with, it would be difficult handling such an array. Even after rigging the plank so that she could channel her Chakra through it more easily to manipulate all of those guns at once. It was little different from hovering Kunai with Chakra in order to throw a barrage all at once without the use of a scroll. The difference being that she would keep the guns suspended and use Chakra to fire the weapons.  
In her other hand she carried what looked like a periscope. And Tenten quickly began to illustrate the basics of the tactics she would follow during this battle. Running to the wall just out of sight to the airlock while the remaining wounded crewmen scurried out of line of fire of the enemies breaking into the ship. She brought the plank up and used the periscope to see the Collectors precisely as they finally broke apart the airlock and attempted to board the interior of the ship. But before they could get fully inside, a swarm of weaponry appeared literally from around the corner, seemingly hovering in mid-air by themselves. The enemies at the front halted clumsily at the sight, but they did not have a prayer. One bolt of focused Chakra and all the guns opened fire in unison, blasting a literal wall of bullets into the narrow space.

The Collector Drones and Husks gathered within reeled as they tried to get a target only to be ripped to pieces by the sheer weight of fire unleashed upon them, the airlock becoming a storm of blood, gore and dismembered limbs.. After ten full seconds of firing, nothing remained alive within line of sight of her periscope.

Joker was completely dumbstruck by the sheer audacity of this new "toy" of hers. The most obvious flaw seemed to be the need to reload so many guns effectively while maintaining a steady stream of suppression fire. But then he saw several of the weapons clatter against each other, and he could faintly detect the seals placed against the weapon's sides. The same which the team had gotten to allow for keeping a much greater supply of heat sinks than any soldier could keep on their person. At least six spent heat sinks clattered to the floor in unison.

"I'll be going out then, see you later!" Tenten chimed in amidst the silence that resulted within the command deck. And before the helmsman could tell her to stop, she threw herself around the corner after having taken another look through the periscope. She stopped before leaving the ship's hull after having stumbled through the field of corpses she had just made, checked her observation tool again, and a shotgun blast rang out as she moved one weapon around the corner and gutted the Drone that stood in cover right next to the entrance before the coast was finally clear enough for her to jump out and get in cover. A firefight starting shortly. And Joker could only hear the hushes dying breaths of many Drones and Husks. Joker managed to stumble over to take a look, and there she sat, safe and sound.. looking through the periscope and continued firing with all guns lined up from the upper edges of her cover.

"H-holy shit!" He could only mouth as he keyed his com link.. "Hey, Commander?"

"What's up, Joker? We are just about to start the briefing, have you seen Tenten?" came the answer after a few seconds of waiting.

"Uh, she's already outside. And kicking a whole lot of ass while at it. Man, if you could just see this shit!"

* * *

Shepard shook his head in disbelief.. shutting down the link as he looked to the others. No choice but to proceed. He walked to the front of the table, taking a long gaze at his team before addressing them. "This isn't how we planned it, but this is where we're at." - "Right now we cannot worry about the condition of the Normandy. We came to stop the Collectors and get the Jubi out of here before the Kalinin rogue group manages to pull off what they intend to do, and that means coming up with a plan to take down this station!"

He paused for a moment before regarding the AI, "EDI, bring up your scans!"

A hologram of the station appeared, hovering a few inches off the table, displaying the inner layout of the base. "You should be able to overload their critical systems if you get to the main control center here." the AI spoke, placing a marker at the designated location near the top of the station.

"That means getting through the heart of the station, right past this massive energy signature." Jacob informed them, pointing towards the inner workings of the station that were displayed in white.

"That's the central chamber." Shepard noted.. "It is likely where the Collectors are keeping the Jubi, as well as any captured colonists that may still be alive."

"Getting in however is the hard part. The blast or whatever it was have contaminated large sections of the station. To what degree is unknown, but likely to be high." red marks started to display across many areas of the hologram with the highest concentrations.

"Chakra contamination. Destabilizes the bodies of Collectors. Caution is advised." Mordin noted.

Shepard gave a nod.. "Yes, it makes their bodies highly volatile. Fatal damage results in detonation, don't let them get too close."

They could even then hear the string of explosions outside, it sounded like the Kalinin are having a field day.

"The immediate vicinity of the ship are heavily infested with Collector forces. But Tenten and Konan should be able to carve us a safe zone by the time we move out."

"We could split up into teams, keeping our offensive as organized as possible." Miranda offered her suggestion.

"Not too fast, cheerleader! Nobody wants to take orders from you." Jack lashed out at the Operative. Garrus shook his head slightly.

"This is not a popularity contest. Lives are at stake." She turned to Shepard.. "You need someone who can command loyalty through experience." Miranda voiced in an indignant manner.

Shepard did not reply for a fair few moments as he considered the options. Eventually turning to the Turian of the group. "Garrus, you're in charge of the second team."

"Yes, Commander." Garrus replied, gripping his rifle a little tighter. Miranda wasn't pleased with Shepard's choice, but did not argue about it.

Shepard mentally formed the lineup of the teams. However.. Tenten and Konan would have to be the third team. With that decided, he narrowed his eyes.

"I don't know what we will find in there, but I won't lie to you. It's not going to be easy. We've lost good people, we may lose more. Madara and his ilk are set to turn everyone in the galaxy into slaves. And the Collectors took the Jubi, and probably plan to restore it. They have also taken - thousands, hundreds of thousands of colonists maybe. But right now, it's not important. What matters is this. Not one more. That's what we can do, here, today. It ends with us." - "They want to know what we are all made of? I say we show them, on our terms. Let's end this threat, once and for all."

* * *

"Speeches and more speeches. Good grief." Onoki muttered, he caught Shepard's speech in the middle of an attempted communication with the Normandy after having found out about it's crash into the station.

"So much for a quick operation start." Shikamaru shook his head.. "It's good for morale, but the timing's poor."

"Yes, I'd prefer if they got on with it already. Do we have engine thrust yet?"

A slow nod.. "Yeah, it's still going slow. But we are picking up some speed." the boy drawled out as the Lance of the Six Path moved past the drifting Collector Cruiser they had fought until the Chakra blast coming from the base knocked it out of the fight. "If we go just a little faster, I believe we should be able to arrive within the next few minutes."

"Good. You hear that?" the old man replied, addressing Nagato through the intercom.

* * *

"Roger that. Make it quick." Nagato closed the link and turned to the teens whom sat among the crates within the cargo hold. They seemed tired, but with the massive jawbreaker edition Soldier pills that Mei cooked up, they are currently more itchy to go to work than they have been in a long time. The voices in their heads had been temporarily suppressed by the sheer anxiety that the modified soldier pills inflicted on them. He would continue to keep an eye on them, but at the very least they would be able to fight without restraint. "How are you feeling?"

"Feeling good. I'm go for some action, hopefully very soon." Naruto said as he looked over with a forced smile. Hinata's was equally forced.

"Y-yeah. Same here... the pill contained too much energy, it's all I can do just to remain sitting here." she nearly whispered, the other two seeing what she meant as the girl squirmed restlessly.

Nagato released a sigh.. "That will do, get into the shuttle. We launch soon. If the soldier pills won't give you rest from the voices in your heads, then the coming battle will." .. he gestured to the shuttle a little further away.

"Y-yeah. We hope so." Hinata replied as she got off the crate and started walking towards the shuttle, followed quickly by Naruto.

"Um, anything more we need to know before starting?" the boy asked.

Nagato frowned.. "We have already gone over this, you know." a sigh before he continued.. "Alright. Make sure you're ready to enter stage one when we get there. You don't have to restrain yourselves too much, wreak havoc and draw the Collectors attention. But keep in mind, we don't want too much damage caused, it could impede the progress of the others. And we don't know what could be in there besides the Jubi, so-"

"Approaching drop point, opening cargo bay door!" Onoki broadcast at that precise moment. "Good luck, kids."

The shuttle began to move promptly... "OK, here we go." Nagato whispered as the craft moved out of the ship, which moved away to orbit around the base.

Just like normal, it felt like crossing a bottomless chasm between two separate mountains. It's unnerving. As if only a lifeline kept them from falling. All three felt very much at ease as the shuttle touched down on the organic-looking hull of the base. And all equipped breathing masks before venturing outside, using Chakra to adhere to the hull "beneath" them.

"Looks like we got to create our own entrance.. Naruto?" he tossed a glance at the boy as the Nine-tails Chakra enveloped his body, going no further than three tails at the moment. And Hinata climbed up to the total number of tails which her Tailed beast could muster, three exactly.

"Aye, just give me some room." Naruto called out as he poured Chakra into his palm, the energy quickly forming above it, increasing in amount significantly very shortly and quickly formed into a coherent sphere as he caused it to spin, applying power and stability. "Here goes!"

* * *

It had lost control over a larger number of it's standing forces, a total of thirty percent of the Drones within the base had become infected by the residual energy left by the more recent accident and did not respond to any commands. The infected Drones' ability to work as a coherent force had effectively become nil. The only good thing being that they could still distinguish between ally and foe.

The Collector General, under the control of Harbinger skittered around the control center, keeping it's relentless gaze at the various displays. A large number of Synthetic combative constructs had also become affected, most of them being those that hadn't been activated to serve in the defense of the station. Though to what effect had not yet been ascertained.

The timing could not have been any worse. It had been trying to activate the Super-Dreadnought that they recently managed to capture. The composition of said machine being that of four, maybe five Dreadnoughts or even more. It did not have nearly enough time to confirm the number. But the implications that one of the species of the latest purge had managed to capture and not only dismantle several of it's kind, but also used them to create a larger and more powerful ship. The Makers' technology visible within what scans had been conducted, but Harbinger remained unknowing what purpose those elements served in the workings of the ship.

What caused the most recent accident however occurred as it attempted to activate the ship, only to see that all the "personalities" within of each "Reaper" of which made the new construct were still very much extant. The problem being that they were all linked together, combined with the mixing of the genetic material beyond the point of separation resulting in a deeply corrupted mind. The recent attempt of activation caused an outburst that made the Super-Dreadnought vent excess energy in an extraordinarily violent manner. It didn't have any choice but to shut down the construct before anything else happened. Thinking that perhaps it should have the Super-Dreadnought bleed away some of it's energy before attempting another activation.

The Harbinger slowly turned it's attention to another screen, displaying the crashed Normandy within the docks of the station. The extent of the damage around the craft indicating a heated battle. It detected two powerful energy/heat signatures, indicating Kalinin without a doubt. But instead of focusing on their position, it shifted it's gaze to the signatures marching out of the ship. The screen zoomed in, and Harbinger cursed deeply as it detected.. "Shepard! You have made it this far, but no further!" it rumbled before turning to a different console, tapping in commands furiously. "All constructs of war, rise to do battle.. annihilate the enemy!" it's voice boomed, all variants of Husks, Praetorians and Scions activated, many which carried the contamination. To what effect remained to be seen, but they all marched along with the other troops under Harbinger's command. Much more than required to destroy just one boarding party, but it deemed the action necessary.

"Shinra Tensei!"

Harbinger span around to face yet another screen as the whole section shook from a great force. Another boarding party had been discovered, breaking in further away from Shepard's group. Close to it's own position. The robed one whom had just cried out blasted away a horde of Seeker swarms that attempted to intercept their position. Several Drones and a Praetorian attempted in destroying the invading organics. The Harbinger glared intently as the data came in about the enemy in this engagement. three additional enemies, just three. But judging from the signatures, all Kalinin.

It stumbled back to the console and began to organize it's forces accordingly. Glancing back to the former screen to see several of the Drones already dead as a young male Kalinin, surrounded by a cloak of energy, crushed them as he rushed through the area at a speed impossible for a mere organic, using little but brute force when killing the Drones that got in his way.

The other female one possessed a similar cloak of energy, destroying the lone Praetorian's biotic barrier by blasting it with a large amount of energy through the palm she struck it with, a second strike dismantling the synthetic before the barrier could be reestablished.

Without a doubt, the smaller group possessed the greater power per individual as far as Harbinger could ascertain. It made it so that a greater force of Synthetics would be funneled their way. As an extra line of defense, it forcefully activated that which reason they were harvesting Humans to create. It could not be helped. Harbinger had little choice but to mobilize every asset it possessed in the base. Reinforcements would not be possible until the forces on the outside finish dealing with the attacking fleet.

* * *

Hinata was worried, she activated her Byakugan to look around.. and immediately detected something of concern. "W-we got a huge incoming, lots of Collector's, and a lot of machines!" she pressed more of the Sanbi's Chakra into her cloak and brought it to the very edge of Stage two, growing more dense by the second.

"Drawing the Collectors' attention away from Shepard and the rest remains the purpose of this assault, so quite frankly it is to be expected." Nagato replied calmly.. "Pay attention to your surroundings, feel free to enter Stage two if necessary, but do not, I repeat, do not use the Bijudama unless I order you to do otherwise. Other than that, strike with deadly force."

"Yes, sir. Hinata, let's plow the road!" Naruto hollered as his demon cloak grew all the denser as he demanded more Chakra from the Kyubi. Just in time for the first wave, twenty Drones flying in and setting down more than thirty feet of their position, along with an unknown number of Husks pouring out from nearby hallways. The floor seemed to split open as the Jinchuriki braced themselves and rushed forward with an acceleration of explosive proportions, crushing each their Drone by sheer momentum. Immediately afterward, their movements changed into a dance of claws and spikes as they continued to rush through the enemy formation before they could get into cover.

Nagato would have called the dance somewhat beautiful, if not for the brutality they exercised against their enemies.. the Drones coming apart like wet paper under the Tailed beast enhanced Shinobi. And the Wretches did not fare any better despite being made of a harder material.

"Bansho Ten'in." he tugged at a small number of the Wretches who came between him and the two others, pulling them towards him and with a slight change of trajectory threw them over his shoulder and into a nearby pit. The Collector base was obviously not built for safety precautions. He could see hazardous zones everywhere.

On that note, this first wave appeared to be more than easy enough for the teens to handle by themselves. Once the area became clear, they would start advancing towards the central chamber. On that note, he sat down behind some cover and focused his attention momentarily elsewhere, to make sure his connection to the Path's which remained on the ship for the duration of the mission until needed. At which point they would be summoned to fight alongside the rest of them. Just keeping them on standby for the time being helped him conserve Chakra.

* * *

"Everything ready, you guys?" Nagato asked through Deva Path as Kisame, Hidan and Kurotsuchi got ready for the third boarding assault.

Hidan checked the pistol he would be using alongside his own scythe before responding.. "What about the Cerberus crews, aren't those fuckers supposed to follow us in?"

"With the recent incident, they are at the moment not capable of initiating a boarding action. They are more than busy getting all of their systems back up in time before the Collector Cruisers do." Deva Path explained. "So, you are largely on your own. We can't go about waiting for them."

"I guess that's all we can hope for at the moment." Kisame snorted.. "We should be more than able to tear the place apart by ourselves."

"Don't get cocky, we haven't faced anything truly serious yet. But that is bound to change eventually. We're not taking any chances."

"Fair enough, just waiting for the signal."

"Remember your objectives. You are the ambush squad. You must keep a low profile until the best possible opportunity to disrupt the enemy as much as possible."

"Yes, yes. Just let us at them." Kurotsuchi shrugged.

"Oi, we're coming up on the bottom of the station. Get ready for the jump." Onoki gruffly called out through the speakers in the ship.

"Speaking of the devil." Kisame laughed as he hoisted his weapon and began to move towards the cargo bay door as it opened.. the reestablished mass effect field making sure there would not occur any explosive decompression. "Let's go people!" he shouted as he stepped on the edge of the exit and made sure his breathing apparatus was properly adjusted before throwing himself out.

"Hey, wait for us already!" Hidan shouted in annoyance as he leaped after the fellow missing-nin. Kurotsuchi gave Deva Path a shrug before launching herself after the others. The doors closing after they left. Leaving Deva Path to shake his head lightly.

Since they did not use a shuttle, it took a fair few minutes of navigating through the chaotic underside of the station. Spikes and rods seemed to jut out from everywhere at once, an extremely chaotic environment. They all moved very carefully, any abrupt movement would have thrown them wildly off course, which in the current circumstances could be lethal. Eventually, a blast in the distance could be distinguished from the sickly organic surroundings as Kisame worked to tear a hole through the station's hull.

"Infiltration, successful." Kurotsuchi could almost hear Kisame's triumphant smirk with that statement. And eventually, she and Hidan managed to get to the ragged hole and pulled themselves inside.

And inside, they found a graveyard.

"Ugh, it's as if every time we think they can't possibly make a place stink worse, they go ahead and prove us wrong." Kurotsuchi groaned as soon as the sight and the stench hit her.. in the area around them, they could see hundreds, if not thousands of pods... and a large amount of corpses which had been discarded here. Many which carried signs of having been used in Husk related research. And it weren't just Humans. Many dead of many species could be seen covering the chamber. Past research subjects, failures. Dumped here and forgotten. She could faintly discern the signs of "mouths" beneath some of the corpse mounds. As if they were going to be used as materials. The realization that the organic mass covering large sections of the base may have been created that way sickened her to the core.

Hidan placed a hand against her shoulder.. "H-hey, easy now. Don't let this shit get to you too much!".

"Let's move on before we're discovered." Kisame stated, distracting the others from the sight for a precious moment as he already began to stumble through the mounds, heading towards a tall organic crag in the distance, probably wanting to use it to get further up the station. And slowly, the others followed suit and started to climb.

The areas above weren't much better. Littered with discarded pods and even more corpses. Kurotsuchi viewed this with disgust, the Collectors should have at least burned the bodies instead of leaving them to rot like this.

Eventually, they arrived at a set that resembled stairs and started to climb up those instead. No signs of enemy contact yet. It was strangely silent. Narrow openings lined the wall, showing that they bordered on that of a huge chamber. She peered through one of the slits, and had trouble seeing the wall on the far side.

"This place is huge.." Hidan whispered, having had the exact same idea of looking through one of the openings. "What could they possibly use all of this shit for?"

"Don't know." Kisame growled as he pushed on.

A few minutes passed before they found themselves within what looked like a transport hub. Filled with platforms that stretched into the distance.

Only one guard could be seen, a Drone which stared across the empty space, until a triple-bladed weapon skewered it from behind.

"Well, so far... so good." Hidan growled as he gripped a hold of the cable attached to his scythe and reeled the flailing Collector in before stabbing his retractable spear through it's throat. Glaring into the flickering four eyes of the creature before it went limp.

Kurotsuchi stepped past him and looked over the area.. "Looks like we got to use one of these to proceed from here."

"Looks that way." Kisame noted as he took the lead, wandering to the closest platform and climbed onto it.. the others doing the same. "... Huh?"

"What is it?" Hidan asked before the noise in the distance reached his ears as well. Something's coming, something huge.

"Get into cover!" the woman cried out as she ran up to them and shoved them down with her into what little cover the platforms offered.

In the distance, a large number of airborne hostiles passed their location. Praetorians and Seeker swarms mostly. Too many for them to try and engage at this time. If they did, the enemy could have gained the upper hand very quickly because of the nature of this location. And as such, they could only watch from their hiding place. Gradually the swarm vanished entirely out of sight, leaving the three down there to consider what to do from there.

"Um, tell me the communicator's working!" Kurotsuchi nervously told Kisame, who nodded slowly. "Then what are you waiting for? We need to let the others know what's coming!"

"Should we not go after those things?" Hidan suggested.

"A trio of soft people on a frail platform following a swarm of killing machines and insects that can stun us and make it all the more easier for the rest to blow us up." Kisame counted on his hand.. "Well then, what are we waiting for?"

"What, you honestly don't mean... ?" Kurotsuchi gasped in disbelief. It sounded like an act of suicide to her.

Kisame gave her a solemn nod. "We'll follow them slowly and keep ourselves at a safe distance. And wait until the best moment to strike. We need to do this to aid the others, this might just as well be the decision that will break the Collectors' ability to defend the base, so we must do it."

Kurotsuchi stared at him for a long moment before Hidan managed to pull her attention.. "Even a bastard like me recognize that this is what we should do, so get your head back in the game. Let's give the fuckers a wake-up call." he hissed softly.

The woman sighed.. "Alright, you got me. Let's go get them."

"Good choice, miss." Kisame shrugged as he turned to the platform's control panel, pressing random buttons for starters, resulting in the platform disconnecting from the rest, though it only hovered for the time being.

And so, as the ambush team finally decided upon their next course of action. One obstacle remained before it could be done. To learn how to fly the contraption. A gargantuan head-ache for the team as they worked hard the next few minutes to figure it out.

And elsewhere, the battle continued.


	30. Chapter 30

Tenten groaned in frustration as she threw herself into yet another piece of cover and aligned the periscope to see the closest group of enemies, seeing a number of Drones breaking cover and attempting to rush her position. The girl quickly aligned the plank and manipulated all her guns just over the edge, unleashing a massive barrage of bullets, which made the Drones stop literally dead in their tracks, and tumbled down to the deck as one. Gaping wounds covering each and every one of them.

Turning the periscope twenty degrees to the left, she found two Scions taking position. And unleashed their heavy biotic attacks upon her position. She quickly aligned the gun array to fire on the abominable creatures with intense bursts of fire that broke every time she pulled the guns down when the Scions launched another attack. It took two rounds like that before the heavily damaged machines crashed into the ground, unmoving.

More of them tried to rush her position again. They were improving, but their timing had gone way off. Having only charged her after the Scions went down. And for their troubles, Tenten gunned them all down. But no matter how many of the creatures she killed, more kept popping out of the many cracks around the massive hangar bays.

She did not have to worry much about snipers, however. Though it was questionable if the Collectors even have snipers at all. It remained unconfirmed because all the Collectors above had to contend with Konan, whom seemed to dance through the air in her paper visage. Launching her attacks as brilliant white waves filled with razor-sharp paper shuriken. Cutting down those closest to her, while those further away tried to shoot her down only to see the bullets pass harmlessly through her, only destroying a few dozen sheets of paper before her gaze landed upon them, after which the opponent wouldn't live for much longer.

To the far right, Shepard and the others fought like cornered animals against the seemingly endless tide of insect creatures and the occasional swarm of Husks dashing into melee. Grunt responded at one which tried to claw at him by slamming it into the ground and splitting it's head apart with one shot from his shotgun before he turned to another monster, crushing it as he simply rushed through it.

Ample bullets, grenades, tech and biotic attacks were hurled down at the alien horde, carving a path through them. Though the Collectors weren't hesitant at all in putting up a stiff resistance. Those that looked as if they had gotten contaminated by Chakra fought especially hard. Not able to follow orders, they simply attacked until they got beaten down. No such thing as retreat, and that made them a little difficult to dislodge.. especially as they fired wildly at the intruders without the slightest sign of preservation of ammunition, or their own lives for that matter.

The thought haunted her. Nagato had told them all to show the Collectors no mercy. Nothing but tortured beings, tools. Kill them all to save their souls. Tenten aligned her guns again and fired an extended volley towards a Scion that had turned towards the others and watched it break into pieces.

Shepard and the others went ahead, breaking through another defensive line. Tenten quickly hurried to clean up what remained in her immediate area before she picked herself up and ran, dashing about fifty feet forward to join up with the others, hurling herself down just in time to dodge another few rounds from their enemy.. She sat up and peered through the periscope and manipulated her Chakra through the plank and threads leading up to the guns, lifting them over the edge to continue firing.

"Okay, I see what Joker meant." Garrus commented as he peered at Tenten's gun array manipulation technique.

"Cool, ain't it?" she responded proudly of her creation before opening a full two second burst of fire, enough to drop several more Drones, one which was torn to pieces by more bullets than the target required as it stumbled back from the offending wall of bullets, blasting off a leg, an am below the elbow and roughly half it's head. Yet the surrounding forces remained unfazed and continued to resist without pause.

"I'd say..." Garrus muttered with a slight hint of sullen admiration.

"Wait, what's that?" Thane asked as he ceased fire and payed attention towards one of the larger cracks in the far wall. Two red orbs peered at them for a moment, like a pair of demonic eyes.

Tenten felt almost like her blood turned into ice by the sight. The Collectors themselves are disturbing enough to look at. But something about the thing that hid in the distant darkness beyond the crack gave her a real chill... as if what she had come from the deepest depths of damnation than anything that the underworld could possibly conjure. It was with slight relief when the eyes were out of sight, but instead a burning red beam blasted forth at them. Everyone ducked. Konan had thrown herself down into cover as well, pushing Tenten to the ground as if to protect her. The girl had managed to pull the gun array down, but an assault rifle along with a shotgun was brought down too late and was vaporized by the beam as it passed.

After several seconds, the beam dissipated and the devilish presence pulled away and seemingly vanished. Tenten coughed amidst the calm that ensued while Konan lifted herself off the youngster. "OK, next time.. I'll invent something like that." she commented on the weapon that the enemy had just deployed.

"You enjoy making men feel inferior, don't you?" Garrus lamented after hearing just that.

"Yep."

"Whatever that thing was, it's gone." Konan whispered softly, standing up to try and see that which had attacked them.. but the terrible sensation it left was gone. A bullet passed through her paper visage as the battle began once again. Gunfire loudly proclaiming the intent to kill on both parties behalf along with Grunt's howl of joy as his heavy shotgun bellowed a harsh amount of punishment upon a Drone that had gotten too close and suffered the presence from every pellet the gun could launch all at once.

Shepard winced as he got an incoming call. He placed an index finger against his left ear. "Shepard here, who is it?"

Contact seemed to be poor, but amidst the static, he could hear Kisame's voice. "You guys better be ready. There's a big swarm of them machines and Seeker swarms heading in your direction. We are trying to pursue to attack them from behind... as soon as this god forsaken contraption gets work- ouch!" the transmission cut short. Shepard did not know what to make of the connection being cut short, either they came under attack or something else had happened. Either way, he could only deal with one thing at a time.

"Everyone, the enemy will get some heavy reinforcements soon. Get ready to split up into individual teams and find suitable spots. Kisame just informed me, it will include synthetics and Seeker swarms.." he spoke next to the third team, specifically the Kalinin. "Tenten, Konan. Hope you got additional tricks up your sleeves, we'll need them!"

"Got it. Come on, Tenten." Konan sighed as she surrounded Tenten with a protective sphere of paper as both broke away from cover and rushed to the back. "You need to cover me while I prepare."

They got into the piece of cover in the back, the girl's gun array firing clipped bursts as the range to the enemy increased. She suffered some trouble with accuracy even then though. "OK." she responded simply as the woman got down and brought out a scroll and unfurled it.

The other two teams split up and took position to the far left and right behind the heaviest pieces of cover they could find. A swarm of Praetorians weren't something to take lightly, no matter what.

And so they prepared themselves for the coming storm even as they continued to fight the swarm of Drones and Husks that kept trying to assault them with no lack of effort.

* * *

"Alright. This looks promising enough." Nagato commented as he gazed upon what looked like a door. Seemingly different from the rest, and would get the same treatment as the earlier ones. "Naruto, break it down."

"Yes!" Naruto hollered in reply as he got in position before the door.. letting Nagato get out of the way before he focused his Chakra.

He barely even needed to focus much. Being covered with a demon cloak, he possessed more than enough power to break through the obstacles on his way. The other two watched as the boy curled his clawed fist and struck the door, which seemed to scream in response as the metal twisted in a bizarre manner away from the fist, and in one motion the wall surrounding the door shattered, causing the door to crash into the floor with a resounding boom.

"Effective but noisy." Nagato shrugged.

Hinata released a soft groan.. "With the forces coming towards us as we speak, it would not make a difference even if we tried to go quietly." the girl commented.

"Guys. I believe we just hit jackpot." Naruto told them within the next heartbeat as it seemed like they had managed to find what looked like a massive control room. With a huge creature further in tumbling about to glare at the intruders. Besides it's size, it looked very much different from Drones. A more insect-like body with many finger-less limbs along with a large flat head. It's four glowing eyes, completely unblinking as the alien glared at them.

"Fools, you stand on the precipice of oblivion." the creature boomed as it's exoskeleton looked as if it began to crack open, leaving the creature looking as if it was covered by magma.

"Be careful you guys, that thing's power just increased greatly." Nagato whispered.

The Collector general took one step forward and several more Collectors appeared from the surrounding room, a dozen Drones along with four Praetorians. "You cannot resist."

"Try us!" Naruto howled and he proceeded to charge in towards the enemy.

Hinata tried briefly to say something, but nothing seemed aggressive enough, so she simply burst into a full run, following Naruto on the way in. But quickly sped up to rush past him, smashing into the front of a Praetorian with sufficient force to send them both flying. The Sanbi Jinchuriki tearing the machine to pieces with her bare hands. The Praetorian only halting in it's fall once the Collector General stopped it with a biotic assault. But by that time, Naruto jumped in and used the critically damaged machine to launch an attack on the leader behind it. Only for the creature to flaunt a claw and slapped the youth aside. "You feel this." it simply said as Naruto crashed into the opposite wall.

The Collector General reared back as Hinata carved her way straight through the machine and left it as the machine turned into a glowing cloud of poisonous vapor. But the demon cloak protected her from the dangerous gas, but to little use as the creature simply batted her aside as well. "It's pointless, you cannot fight your fate."

Before it turned back, Nagato managed to get close and raised a palm before the surrounding Collectors could intercept him. "Shinra Tensei!"

"Chaos comes." the creature responded as it threw a biotic throw at the Kalinin. And for a brief moment, the Shinra Tensei and the Biotic Throw competed before both users were blown away in each their direction as the recoil became a telling factor.

"S-strong!" Nagato whispered.. "Strong enough to fight stage one demon transformation... do the youngsters have little choice but to go stage two?" he shook his head.. "No."

"Get rid of the small fry first. I'll keep reinforcements off your back!" Nagato called out as he recovered and retreated to the door.

"Alright. Hinata, you heard him!" the boy quickly shouted as he dashed sidewards to evade the biotic assaults coming from that large creature in the middle.

"Y-yes, going!" Hinata responded and they quickly began to circle the opposing enemy. Using lightning assaults to grind the surrounding Drones down before engaging the Praetorians in succession, both at one at a time. Hinata started by ripping out the many heads which the front of the Praetorian contained, all the dead soul-less eyes glaring emptily as she tore them asunder, digging her way straight through the heavily armored machine without breaking her pace.

Naruto however was stopped short of destroying the machine before him as the Collector General threw him away, after which the Praetorian opened fire on the Jinchuriki. The boy inwardly became thankful to his demon cloak as it blocked the majority of the weapon's power while the remaining strength pushed him up against the wall as it tried to drive it's particle beams through the protective veil surrounding the boy.

Out from the corner of the eyes of both Naruto and the Collector General however, Hinata appeared from behind the machine, standing on all four, her mouth wide open as she channeled a ball of raw Chakra roughly between her lips. A war cry sounded from her that was punctuated by a cough as the girl launched the ball, the opposing machine suffering a direct hit and was vaporized in an explosion that cascaded water throughout the control room.

Nagato, whom stood at the entrance trying to ward off reinforcements that had started to arrive. Large numbers of Scions, Drones and Husks along with Seeker swarms that rushed ahead of them just to be beaten back by a Shinra Tensei. However, he noticed the massive burst of Chakra radiating from within the room and braced himself when the shock-wave blasted past him and knocked numerous opponents that were running in the open off their feet... Not only did the wave hold incredible amount of Chakra, but also a great amount of moisture. It took one look over his shoulder to see that a shallow dam of water had gathered, but which slowly began to drain out of the room from the many cracks about the space.

It told him volumes of what had occurred. Hinata just deployed a Bijudama, only the Sanbi used Chakra bombs with Suiton added in. The teens went on using such a technique despite his orders to the contrary... although technically this one appeared to be far weaker than a regular Bijudama would have been. More Collectors managed to appear within the room from places unknown and assailed the Jinchuriki.. and soon, the Collector General itself stood in the middle of a whirlwind of slaughter, seemingly the only thing able to offer resistance to the souped up Jinchuriki that had gone on a rampage.

He turned back to the enemy forces trying to force their way in and with a gasp leaped to the side as dozens of the creatures bull rushed his position and managed to push into the room to join the fight. Nagato retreated up onto a ledge higher up above the rest and found an additional sets of machines and monitors. The man spared a glance at the others.. the battle having gotten much more intense. The Collectors simply threw an additional boat load of oil onto the fire. Having brought so many enemies into such a confined space. The overwhelming numbers started to work against the Collectors. It caused significant fratricide among their rank as their bullets became more likely to hit comrades than the two teens that constantly kept rushing through the crowd, tearing the enemy to pieces with their raw Chakra enhanced strength as they went.

To Nagato it was an unnerving sight. Seeing the enemies unfazed even as great numbers of their own were crushed or torn apart. Even more so to see Hinata, normally not willing to start conflicts, exhibiting such aggressive behavior in the midst of this blood bath. The reason he figured being the drug-like effect this battle have on them, and after suffering at the hands of the voices that plagued their minds... anything that could work as relief from that pain, they eagerly embraced.

He was worried of what would be needed to calm them down afterward, but he found his mind wander to the monitors behind him. And found that the images displayed the battles going on throughout the station as well as outside it. The Collector General seemed to have a pretty good overview of what's going on so far.

To get a better look, he wandered into the midst of the machines which were arranged in a circle, all displays facing inwards. The first one he looked upon displayed the hangar of the station. The battle within particularly intense. The first ones among the combatants he noticed being Konan and Tenten. The latter having developed a weapon manipulation technique he did not recognize. Currently, the weapons she manipulated were arranged much like the concept of a Gatling gun. Just with multiple layers of weaponry. Machine guns filling the middle layer, several layers of Assault rifles around them, and on the outer layer, there appeared to be a ring of shotguns. Seemed excessive, but necessary in order to deal with the Seeker swarms that managed to get through Konan's measures of dealing with them. Been a while since he had seen that technique of hers. Kami no Shisha no Jutsu.

Though it was a much weaker version of the technique admittedly, as only a few hundred explosive tags were deployed as far as he could see. She could not waste too much paper after all, especially when just a few hundred worked well enough in this case. Tenten dealing with those who managed to get past Konan.

Shepard's team weren't slouches either as a great many bodies of fallen Drones and Husks lied dead across the battle area. Fighting with great discipline and control, using their individual skills to maximum without putting themselves or their comrades at a disadvantage. The only reason they could not push forward being the excessive number of machines marching in. Scions and Praetorians to support the conventional infantry.

A different screen displayed a platform in flight hovering slowly towards the hangar bay. Squinting his eyes, he discovered the shapes of Kisame and the others in pursuit. Obviously trying to ambush the force assailing the others. Kisame and Hidan seemed to be in a little bit of an argument while the former clutched his head in an irritated manner.

Naturally. Hopefully they got their acts together before arriving.

He had lost himself in thought until when he heard a series of clicking noises moving past him. Turning about, Nagato saw the Collector General having managed to make itself scarce from the massive brawl that was taking place at the time. The teens must have lost sight of it. Not willing to let it get away, Nagato started to run quickly, managing to catch up to the creature just short of another set of doors closing. Afterward, he felt a sudden notion of vertigo as the floor began to move down at nothing short of significant speed.

An elevator. And not all that big either. It took just a moment for the creature to turn and discover him. Nagato side stepped fast enough to just narrowly dodge one of the Collector General's sharp limbs promptly stabbing at him.

And thus a small duel commenced in that limited space as the contraption continued to descend. The moves consisting mostly of dodging and parrying the others attempt to strike his opponent down. They attempted techniques, but at the moment they fought on even standing. The creature's biotic throws managed to match the power of Nagato's Shinra Tensei. He could try a much bigger one, but he'd greatly weaken his defenses if he failed. Resulting in them trying to beat the other down through attrition as punching and stabbing alike were exchanged between them, none of the strikes connecting with the opponent the next twelve seconds.. an eternity in combat.

That was, until a disturbance made itself known. A massive howl could both be heard and felt as it boomed from further down, it distracted Nagato for a moment. More than enough time for the Collector General to blast him through the wall.

Fortunately, he did not fall far.. slamming into a strangely flat and dark area. Even despite pain shooting through his spine as he forced himself up onto his feet and assessed the area. The whole chamber surrounding him looked empty.

The silence that followed broke into pieces as the creature came out of the elevator, staring at Nagato. "Your destruction is inevitable." it began... "The Makers and the Protheans bought time, nothing more. And now, your benefactors have unwittingly provided us with the means to maintain our victory for all perpetuity. Nothing will be able to hinder us anymore."

Nagato groaned as he faced the Collector General, settling into a stance.

"Now behold, what will ensure our triumph, everlasting!"

And the environment changed. The floor changed from it's jet-black appearance and suddenly became transparent. Nagato stared down into what had become visible below them within the station's main chamber. A truly gigantic construct, the amalgamation of several Reapers. Shaped like a monster that made whole generations tremble before it and which it had left annihilated in it's very wake. A world-breaker of terrible proportions.

The Jubi.

"Your everlasting triumph will only become perpetual ruin unless you hand it over to us!" Nagato cried out in anger, something in the atmosphere seemed as though it harmed his calm something fierce. He thought it came from the Chakra surrounding them, though it's vague within the room.. but beyond it the visage of the Jubi and the far-off wall was clouded with demonic Chakra dense to the point of visibility. Upon a closer look, the Jubi possesses several breaches on patches of it's hull from which the Chakra belched forth at a continuous rate.

But there was something else. Something moving towards them from underneath.

The opponent stood unmoving for a few seconds. "Your powers are impressive, but it will not be enough to stop us. Your existence is fleeting, fragile." it responded in a hushed but deeply menacing voice.

Nagato looked down and gasped at the sight as a monstrous mechanical mockery of the Human skeleton appeared beneath them, missing it's whole lower body, but with the spine twisting sickeningly like a tail. It's face came close from underneath and peered at Nagato with those cold red optics. Not breaching the floor, but it's very presence disturbed him very deeply at it's almost ghost-like visage, surrounded by the Jubi's malevolent Chakra.

Nagato felt disgusted the first time he heard about the Reapers being partially organic. But he never imagined it would turn out to be like this. To him and his comrades, little but a walking death could be sensed from the Collectors' very presence. But this, thing, gave him the sensation of standing atop hell itself.. millions of screaming souls beckoning to him, trying to drag him through the floor.

It thoroughly disturbed him. And for the first time, he truly forgot everything about staying calm... it was impossible to stay calm. A burning rage forced it's way to the surface as he lifted his gaze towards the Collector General. "Unforgivable..." he whispered. "So much death your kind caused, and you continue to add to the pile of sins. I won't let you have your way any longer!"

"It is pointless to resist, Kalinin. Embrace your extinction!" It lifted it's claws in unison and blasted forth a wave of biotics that scorched the very floor as it passed, racing for it's target.

"We will make our own destiny, fiend!" Nagato raised both hands.. "Shinra Tensei." .. the resulting technique striking the attack head-on. He tilted forward and threw more Chakra into the technique as the Biotic wave pushed him back slowly, and then steadily. It was strong, very strong. He could not negate it at this rate, instead he with a grunt and intense focus managed to throw it to the right-hand wall.. the man almost falling to the floor as the wall in question detonated violently.

Next, Nagato bit his thumb hard enough to draw blood and pushed the bleeding palm to the floor. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu." and five simultaneous pillars of smoke blew up from the floor around him in a pentagonal pattern.

From the dust that filled the room, the four eyes of the Collector General pierced the hazy cloud that resulted from said dust. "Submit. You have no future."

"Don't I?" Nagato groaned as he picked himself up, staggering slightly as he arranged a full five of his Paths in front of him. "You're merely a disease that do nothing but to destroy countless lives. And for what? Abominations like that?" he gestured to the unfinished Reaper that continued to glare at him from below. "I will instruct you in their incomparable pain."

"Pain is an illusion." the creature hissed as it's body emitted a strong fiery light as it charge up it's biotics for deployment again. "Nothing more."

* * *

"Okay, this is going south, really quick." Shepard groaned in exasperation.. In addition to Drones numbering almost fifty, so far about twenty Praetorians had arrived and made good an offensive. Pushing both his and the second team back significantly. Forcing the third team to pull even further away. Konan's trick wasn't nearly as effective now that the machines began blasting any patch of ground that seemed out of place, making the technique she used to dispose of the Seeker swarms useless. The constant waves of the heavy particle beams that lanced from everywhere against the groups' scattered positions. They managed to kill five of the damned things so far. But the fact that more than a dozen Scions added to the defending ranks made it almost impossible to lean out of cover to take a shot.

So they were forced to rely heavily on Tenten's gun array fill the air with gunfire in order to pull the Collector's attention away from the rest for long enough for Shepard and the others to rain hell on the distracted creatures and machines. The only real advantage being that the Collectors' cohesion seemed to have taken the long route in a manner of speaking. It was as if no one directed orders for them to follow at the moment. And it hurt their ability to work together... but the sheer amount of heavy firepower more than made up for it.

"This piece of cover's no good anymore, we should relocate." Thane's voice scratched at the obvious. It's practically falling apart before them.

Shepard keyed the com.. "Tenten, we need some covering fire so we can relocate!"

"Working on it, hang tight." the girl's voice gasped back.. sounding slightly tired.

Damn, he hoped it wasn't a bearer of bad news. He thought about it as the fire against his position lessened when a rain of bullets from a full foursome of Assault rifles streaked towards the enemy positions. And the moment enemy fire against Shepard's team slackened.. he took the chance.

"Relocate now, go. Go. Go!" he bellowed as his team followed; Thane, Tali and Samara quickly ran for it, the whole team turning as one to shoot whichever Collector turned it's attention back to them before dashing into the next piece of cover. Tali managed to throw herself over and past the obstruction and landed on her belly just past it as bullets and beams darted past her overhead.

"This isn't working, Shepard!" Tali cried out as she got up and leaned up from the cover once to pop a head-shot before crouching back down. "We're almost back at the ship, not much space left to run."

"Just keep it up, everyone." he looked over the edge.. seeing even more machines lumbering into sight. Damn it, how many of those things did the Collectors create? "We just need to hold out some more. The ambush team are on their way now."

"They best come fast. Before we are overrun." Samara added, leaning out of cover to fire. Her pistol releasing bullet after bullet until the current sink overheated. She got back behind the cover, slapped the seal on the side of her gun to eject the spent heat sink, which allowed the seal to insert a new one. Adding the mental note to thank the Kalinin girl if they survive this.. Without these seals to store large quantities of heat sinks, they would had run out of ammunition by now.

"Situations like this makes me wish I had gotten us a tank!" Shepard exclaimed.

"Then you know what you want for Christmas this year." Thane replied with a flat chuckle.

"Just focus on killing the enemy." Shepard responded as he again looked over the edge of the cover rifle in hand, aimed and pulled the trigger once at the closest enemy in sight, one of the few Husks that remained on the field.. the synthetic collapsing into a pile as he perforated it's mid-section.

One less enemy, but a whole lot more remaining.

* * *

Hidan gritted his teeth as the platform skidded against one of the many organic walls within the base in the midst of a clumsy turn. "H-hey, watch it!"

"Just shut up already and let me drive this thing." Kurotsuchi yelled back at him as with a turn, she managed to force the platform away from the wall and pick up speed once again.

"Can't shut up at such abysmal driving, dear!" Hidan growled as he clutched to the side of the control panel..

"It's fine as long as you shut your trap, honey." Kurotsuchi spoke back dangerously, "And what the hell are you grinning at, Kisame?"

Kisame barely stifled a chuckle.. "You two are really getting into the couple business... I can almost hear the bells chime."

The platform shuddered as they bumped into another platform, which span away through the air uncontrollably from the sheer force of the impact. The three Shinobi did all they could to simply hang on.

"If we ever get a car, I'm driving!" Hidan howled.

"I don't want to see either of you two at the wheel. My chances of survival will be much better if I simply jumped instead of staying on the vehicle." Kisame growled.

"Then feel free to jump, three's a crowd after all!" Hidan shouted back.

"You guys...!" Kurotsuchi interjected to keep the argument from devolving further. "Be quiet, I see something ahead of us."

True enough, they emerged into an area bordering to a heavily contested area evident of the sound of gunfire in the distance. A crude set of paths with a strange pipe system running through and beyond it's length. But it also appeared to be heavily crowded by enemy forces, but the main concentration seemed to center around a large platform with several containers built into it's structure, existing for the transport of heavy machinery. In this case mechanical constructs of war that could not keep pace with the Praetorians hovering in the direction of the battle. The platform seemed set to begin unloading.

"Damned many of them." Hidan observed with a grunt.

"Let's start counting them once we get rid of that platform over there, alright?" Kurotsuchi gleamed.

Kisame turned towards her.. "And how do you suppose we get rid of it before they all come after us?"

"Simple." she replied, boosting the speed of the platform they manned... beyond what could be considered safe. "We're going to ram that sucker!"

"Ram?" both the men asked as if they did not hear her correctly, but no answer was required, for the platform tilted about ten degrees forward as it's speed increased, bearing down on the larger platform before them.

The Collectors ground side seemed to have realized what this group of intruders intended and a great number opened fire, as if from a chain reaction. Bullets bouncing off the platform's heavy hull, the Kalinin piloting the contraption barely managing to keep themselves behind cover, fighting the urge to abandon ship. The distance continually shrinking by the second... seventy-five feet, fifty feet, thirty feet... five feet. The enemy-controlled contraption attempted to move away, but it was too late.

"Holy shit!" Hidan cried out at the last moment as their platform crashed into the other with every bit of momentum it had managed to build up. Both platforms tilted towards each other as the hull of both cracked and broke on impact like a pair of palms striking together in thunderous applause. The force of impact had thrown him into the air, the light of a few lava projectiles were all he could see from the corner of his eyes as the projectiles struck the closest container, and seemed to hit something vulnerable, causing it to detonate. The opposing platform veered off in a chaotic trajectory before detonating with sufficient force to throw theirs up in the air.

He could not see the other two at all.. the contraption hit him and tossed the man to one of the few spots on the floor that weren't covered by the sickly organic matter. Hidan did not get up, he could feel the damned thing passing upside down overhead, crashing into the opposing wall, the resulting shock-wave sending him once again flying. He could just barely grab a piece of land and stop himself from flying off the edge. He felt three of his ribs break... it hurt tremendously, but yet Kurotsuchi was the only thing on his mind as he cried out for her, trying to find the woman somewhere in the devastated area. Hidan tried to reach for his weapon... could not find his Scythe... the cable attached to it had also gone away. His retractable spear and the pistol resting in the holster on his hip still remained. The man clawed himself up just to stare into the business end of a Collector Drone's weapon. "Get the fuck out of my way!" he yelled, throwing himself to the side just as the Drone tried to unload it's weapon on him, losing a part of his ear... which had already carried a wound from before when that Asuma fellow sliced at it. Pulled the pistol from the holster and blew the creature's brain out of it's skull with a well placed round. "Kurotsuchi!" he yelled once again as he climbed onto the surface fully and gazed about again, breaking into a full run towards the wreckage not far away.. a part of it blown away as a badly damaged Praetorian climbed out, glaring at him.

But it did not last long before it was torn apart as Kisame appeared and struck it with his Samehada. He looked winded and wounded, but otherwise alright.

"Where is she?" Hidan yelled at him.

Kisame was taken aback by the desperate posture taken by the Jashinist as he constantly looked side to side. "Haven't seen her since we -"

"Oi, over here!" the woman's voice cried out.. "Need some help.." her voice sounding pained.

"Go to her, I'll start cleaning up the place." Kisame nudged him on before he turned and ran in the general direction of the distant battle. He paused to look over his shoulder as the other man began to run in the opposite direction.. "And to think that you once only cared about killing people.. you have come a long way, comrade." he whispered quietly before continuing to the battle.

Hidan leaped over several pieces of the platform's wreckage and the pipe system in the area and came to look upon his mate, her leg stuck underneath a plate of metal. He dashed to her.. "Don't worry, I'm here."

Kurotsuchi groaned harshly as the man braced himself and began to lift the plate, allowing the Kunoichi to pull herself free. Releasing a deep sigh of relief once it had been done.

"Don't give me a scare like that, woman! Let me be the reckless one.. We don't want to lose you... I don't want to lose you..." he whispered quietly.

Kurotsuchi coughed.. "Yeah... I know. Just... fetch me some medi-gel. We can't get stuck here, you know."

Hidan released a sigh as he tried to reach for what little of the stuff he carried... but it appeared to be missing too. "Gah... I lost it."

Kurotsuchi shrugged.. "No choice, you better go and get the others."

"I won't leave you in this state!" he spoke right back, gesturing to her wounded leg.

"Just go man, I'll be alright."

"No, I've got a much better idea!" Hidan responded as he moved his arms under her neck and legs, picking her up. "I'll bring you to them instead!"

She tried to argue with him, but a massive explosion could be heard in the distance... "Make it fast then." she whispered to him as he began to move, carrying her along.

* * *

The system in which the station, on which Kabuto and the others awaited the weapon's activation now fought to keep the newly arrived Citadel forces at bay. Using the Maker ships in the area and the Blue Sun ships that had been captured earlier. Though the opposing fleet drastically outnumbered them, they had the advantage of the station being located in the middle of an asteroid field. It provided an extremely high amount of protection to the ships that continued to dart in and out of sight, firing volleys of fire while doing so at the enemy fleet. But the Citadel forces managed to move closer as the battle dragged on.

"How much more time do we need?" Madara asked, sounding impatient as he directed their forces using the command interface. After several costly battles, the Citadel opted to launch scouts into as many systems as possible in search for the active station.. and it appeared that once this one was discovered. The Citadel fleet had come despite it being within the Terminus Systems. Showing how much the aliens understood the severity of the situation.

"We only need an additional thirty minutes. Once it's charged and fired, it will take the weapon's effect an hour to reach the core." Kabuto whispered as he stood at one of the station's ramps, looking down upon the statue at the bottom, humming with energy relentlessly. "We have to hold them off for just that long."

"That's going to prove difficult, at this rate we'll be overrun. Can't you expedite the process?"

"I'm trying, but you should try and sabotage the enemy fleet from within."

"Can't, I have to maintain control of the fleet. Can't afford to have them act on their own accord."

"Let Zetsu look over it then. I'm sure he can handle it for a short time. Enough for you to get the job done."

Madara paused as he looked over the interface, giving yet another order as he thought deeply about it. The Gunship in question drifted out of cover and opened fire. The bullets streaked across space and impacted with the side of a Human Carrier. It did not take the ship down, but damaged it. The Gunship drifted back into cover before a pair of Salarian Frigates opened fire on it's position. "Zetsu, do as I have done. But lose even one ship and I'll set you up as target practice. Understood?"

"Yes sir, I'll be careful!" the Shinobi grunted in response as he moved to the interface. Madara warped away in a fluid motion. Only be a matter of time before a chain collision would be orchestrated amongst the Citadel forces.

"Tayuya, assist me here." Kabuto called out for the girl whom immediately stood at attention, obviously desperate for something to do. The man turned to the statue below again and leaped down. They didn't have a moment to lose.


	31. Chapter 31

The battle outside the station had turned into full chaos, all the ships which were hit by the Chakra wave from the base becoming either defenseless for the time being or made clumsy attempts of striking against the enemy. The opposing fleet fared no better.

The malevolent Chakra caused several systems on every ship to cease functioning, and everyone worked hard to get them back up. Those systems included targeting programs, some weapon systems, engines, drive core.. one of the Collector ships could not establish mass effect fields. The Teotihuacan became heavily damaged from an explosion deep within the ship as the crew made another attempt of starting up the engine, resulting in it overheating quickly as blobs of Chakra with adhesive effects prevented the machines from dispersing the heat.

The Lance of the Six Paths lucked out apparently, most of the weapon systems went off-line, only a few Guardian point defense turrets responded. The engines, drive core, life support... all running well. It helped that the remaining crew on board have ways to remove Chakra. Mei was going through the ship and trying to 'mop up' the stuff as she went. Leaving Onoki and Shikamaru to sit at the bridge and continue their tight patrol around the base. Taking a few pot-shots at whatever few functional Oculus that decided to try their luck. On the other hand, most of Cerberus' frigates, fighters and interceptors had gone down. Though a few could be seen on the display. Communication between ships had also gone south. George and the others were trying to respond to each other using old methods. Morse code being a prominent one. The communicator was filled with static, but the crews on the other ships was making sure the static 'tapped' continuously. The Kalinin on board the Lance of the Six Paths failed to understand what the fleet's crews were trying to tell each other.

The hangar bays of the base came into view again as they finished another round, but this time the view differed. They could see massive blobs of water trailing away from the hangar.. Shikamaru and Onoki both maintained wary gazes towards the phenomenon as it spread and almost became a wall of liquid.. but from this distance, it seemed to be filled with what amounted to trash and remains, which became steadily more apparent as the ship drew closer.

Their ship passed through the wall, and the corpse of a Collector Drone crashed into the window. All limbs plus head twisted at angles they weren't supposed to. Shikamaru's face twisted into a mask of disgust as some of it's blood spread across the window's surface, mixing with the water that had also been splashed all over the front-half of the ship's exterior.

And he had little choice but to live with that grotesque view for the time being. "Kisame's doing?"

"He's practically a portable ocean, so who else could it possibly be." Onoki responded gruffly, trying to ignore the Drone's yellow quartet of eyes that seemed to stare at him. "Do we have communication back up yet?"

Shikamaru shook his head.. "Still inoperative. The remaining Path he did not call over was destroyed during the latest attempted breach by one of them Oculus. So we're effectively blind to the situation within the base."

"What's your assessment, harbor a guess?" Onoki asked in all curiosity.

The teen shrugged.. "If Kisame's still alive and kicking, it's likely that the others remain at good health. As long as the fleet can't support the defenders' efforts in any elaborate manner, I believe the boarding parties should have some advantage."

"Yes.. hopefully that's the case." the old man shook his head in concern. Thinking about taking Hidan's head if anything happens to his granddaughter.

* * *

Hidan emitted a loud sneeze, sudden enough to make both Mordin and Samara jump. "Ugh... gross." he sighed, realizing what sneezing into his own breathing mask implied.

"Indeed." Kurotsuchi grimaced.. wincing in pain. "Hey, careful!"

"Stop moving. Otherwise, hurt it will." Mordin spoke back as he tended to Kurotsuchi's leg wound, cleaning the wound before starting to add medi-gel.

"You did well.. we would have been defeated, had you not ambushed their forces and cut them off from further reinforcements." Samara said with a brief nod to them both.

"It's Kurotsuchi you should be thanking. She got a wee bit too fucking crazy and saved the day doing it." Hidan responded, scratching the back of his head.. and got hit upside his head as well by his mate.

"Only after you and Kisame talked me into thinking that following such a force to be a good idea." Kurotsuchi added slowly. Getting up once Mordin gave her the permission to. The walk felt a bit awkward, but nothing that couldn't be handled.

Mordin watched her movements carefully for a moment after having given the consent.. "Merely a flesh-wound. Insufficient trauma to reduce combat effectiveness..." a deep sigh. "Good to go."

"Thanks, I really do appreciate it." the woman replied in kind.

"Shall we go then? The others have gone ahead already, including Kisame." Hidan gestured to the specific exit.

"Yes, we should hurry." Samara nodded in agreement.

The group began to move to join up with the others. Time's of the essence, and along the path, walking over corpses of Collectors and their synthetic creations alike, and climbing over obstacles. Both that which were already there, and that which they and the others had made. All the way, Hidan looked around for his missing Scythe. But there seemed to be no sign of it anywhere. He resigned himself to the thought that he needed to get a new one once this is all over.

* * *

A burst of bullets speared through the air and put an end to one of the few Drones that have managed to reach them and hastily arranged themselves into a defensive line, slowing the progress of Shepard's group slightly.

A few Husks climbed up from the nearby cliff's edge in an attempt to get close enough to use their claws, but Tali and Garrus, discovering their approach quickly put them down, the synthetic bodies falling out of sight. Going smoothly thus far.

"Where the hell do all of these come from? They can't possibly maintain a whole army in a place like this." Garrus uttered in disbelief, jumping back into cover once several bullets impacted his kinetic barrier.

Grunt huffed a crude laugh.. "I don't care, the more the better!"

"Maybe they have facilities containing reserves just in case for situations like this. That's what I've been guessing at least." Miranda responded, not having done anything to shoot at the most recently arrived Drones because of being under heavy fire.

But they had been making serious progress since Kisame arrived to help them, washing away the forces on the ground. Soon after which the remaining Praetorians suddenly retreated, except the contaminated ones that stayed until they were finally brought down. Shepard noted to the others not to let confidence overtake them after this one success. Much could still be waiting for them. And the enemies that escaped earlier could, for all they knew, be waiting to ambush them. And as if to put substance into that thought, a trio of the synthetics hovered into view, attacking the team from behind. Squeezing them in from two opposite sides. Fortunately, it became a multiple-layered pincer once Mordin and the rest joined in, taking off pressure.

He leaned out of cover after switching to his Shotgun, fired once, leaped across the cover to advance while Garrus and Thane offered suppressive fire. Tenten moved forward as well, trying to flank the dug-in Collectors while raining bullets over their heads. Got into cover and manipulated a pair of her Shotguns to hover above the closest pair of Drones, pointing the weapons directly downward and fired a total of four shots before she advanced to that piece of terrain and made sure the Drones on the other side had been killed by her assault. The following hand signal towards him confirmed it.

Shepard repeated the gesture, and the rest of the team swarmed forward.. taking yet another line of defense, and another step further. They could see a large blast door ahead though, they needed to get through that to proceed.

They could not be far away from the objective, hopefully.

* * *

The Scion raised it's biotics and attempted to strike at it's foe, never minding the allies falling around it. The only thing that mattered as per it's programming was to destroy hostiles without a shred of mercy.

But before it could manage to discharge it's attack a clawed fist punched through the organic sac it carried on it's shoulder as a starting point of it's now inevitable destruction.. the enemy tearing it apart limb from limb now that there was no way to disengage, even if it somehow possessed something even remotely to that of a instinct of self-preservation.

"It's dead, stop it!" Naruto shouted as he eventually managed to calm himself again, which was hard enough from that massive battle-lust that ran through his vein at that time. But Hinata hadn't calmed down yet. She was still pounding the Scion into pieces, as if to have an outlet now that the entrance to the chamber was too clogged with corpses for any more enemies to make it in. "Hinata, it's long since dead, come on!"

The girl slammed her fist into the creature's head with sufficient force to part it from the rest of the body, the severed head bouncing across the floor until it fell through a convenient hole along the way. Hinata panted heavily.. "I know... I-I'm sorry." she fell onto her back, spreading her legs and placing her hands against the floor to support herself, thinking that if she toppled over, she wouldn't make it back up again for a while.

Naruto stepped closer and placed his hand onto her shoulder. She half turned and gave him a slow nod.

If there was something missing, she noticed it first in the midst of the silence that had fallen upon the place. Nothing to see but the piles of corpses that filled the chamber, covering the floor with blood and anything else that could flow. But... "Where's Nagato?"

The boy blinked, surprised as he stood up and gazed about.. but there's no sign of him, concern started to fill him. "I don't know..."

Hinata paused as she got back on her feet and gazed emptily ahead before re-activating her Byakugan.. her line of sight increasing by an order of magnitude as she analyzed the immediate surroundings. looking for signs of Chakra. But nothing in sight except Naruto and herself. Some came from contaminated broken bodies that surrounded them. But no sign of Nagato. "He isn't here. Must have moved somewhere else, but why?"

"Maybe..." Naruto started to guess. "Maybe he went after the big Collector guy?" he asked, seeing as the creature are nowhere to be seen. "You should increase your range, see if they are in some other room.

"A-already on it." she whispered in return as she focused on looking over this section of the base. She could see many Collectors filling the surrounding chambers, trying to get in. Hinata searched for any point of note, anyplace where Nagato could have gone. Anywhere. That was when she noticed a shaft that ran down through the superstructure, from this chamber.

An elevator.

Naruto turned to watch her with some interest as her gaze intensified. The girl focused upon the elevator and followed it down with her Byakugan. The shaft stretched on and on. She narrowed her vision and pushed her viewing range until another chamber became apparent at the other end. It was clouded, the whole view down there seemed like it's filled with a haze of malevolent Chakra. She narrowed her eyes even further, trying to filter out what she wasn't looking for. Hinata got satisfactory results shortly; five small, but scattered, Chakra signatures. She could also see the large creature that they were up against.

There.

"The elevator up those steps, Nagato are fighting in a room at the far end of it." Hinata spoke up finally.

"Then we should not keep him waiting. Let's go." the boy had begun to walk towards the steps, but halted once he noticed that Hinata wasn't following him.

"Wait..." Hinata whispered, pacing towards one of the many control panels in the room. All quite large, as it had to be considering the size of the leader of these aliens. The boy came over, slightly hesitant. She wanted to go and help Nagato too. But it would be a waste not using this opportunity that stood open before them.

The displays were filled with data, automated reports, images of fighting going on elsewhere streaming in constantly. And a general map showing the base in three dimensions, hovering in the air. It's innards filled with dots that indicated both the Collectors and the intruders, plus the numbers involved on each side. The number of Collector forces weren't reassuring. Even though the rate at which the intruders are killing the natives remained far higher than the other way around, fact remained that because of the sheer numbers of the enemy, Shepard's team _will_ be overrun as they push deeper into the station. It would only be a matter of time before that happens.

"What are those?" Naruto pointed at even smaller dots that filled the interior. He tapped his finger against one of them, causing it to expand, along with an image popping up, displaying the location.. a blast door.

A strategy on how to get the upper hand over the aliens started taking form. By sealing a sufficient number of blast doors, they could greatly limit the Collectors' mobility. They would be forced to use great detours, slowing down the flow of reinforcements as a result.

They quickly went over which was which. They did not have enough time to close them all. So they quickly searched for locations of note. One of them being the number of transit stations filled with platforms. Two of them containing such that allowed the lifting of heavy cargo.

From there, they used the camera imagery and the map to figure out what doors they needed to lock besides the obligatory ones leading to the transit stations. Closing off path after path.

This process contained a lot of trial and error to get things right. They did not understand the language, but the interface was simple and utilitarian in appearance and use.. simplifying it.

They also closed of a number of paths that led to the honeycombed factories that lined the opposite side of the station where the Collectors are grown from and where their abominable machines are constructed and stored. They also found that the Collectors are using Seeker swarms to gather and retrieve ruined machines and dead bodies. Probably for use as raw materials.

The mound of corpses by the entrance to the control room started to collapse.. the enemy on the other side had brought out heavy guns to bring down the wall, limbs and artificial components raining through the chamber from the increasingly intensive bombardment.

"That... should do it. Naruto!" Hinata called out over the noise after having climbed down from the panel. "Bring it down!"

"Got it, here I go!" Naruto replied, gathering Chakra into his palm, using his own demon cloak to form it. "Rasengan!" he struck the control panel that they had been using and watched it tilt away from them as the spiraling sphere worked it's way through the metal plates and crushed the hardware inside.. the interface and map vanishing in a blur of light and sparks.

The piles of corpses were blown apart with that motion, allowing the forces behind it to usher into the chamber, opening fire on the Jinchuriki whom charged up the nearby steps and took a running leap down into the elevator shaft, flexing their limbs and grappled onto the wall, attaching themselves to it loosely as they focused Chakra onto their limbs. But leaving claw marks in their wake.

The enemies that could, hurried to the elevator and hovered their way down after them in pursuit.

* * *

Nagato tried hard to ignore the metallic monster that continued to glare at him from below.. He could not afford to lose focus, the leader of the Collectors had proven to be an extremely resilient opponent.

He had his Asura Path pull out it's left hand, revealing the thick cord covered by a array of miniature missiles. Which it proceeded to launch at the Collector General by the dozens, leaving behind a great number of exhaust trails as the missiles blasted off towards the enemy, albeit with rather erratic trajectories. The enemy responded with a biotic blast, which blew away fully a third of the incoming missiles from the air and then held it's ground roughly as the weapons struck it.

The monster stepped out of the smoke, covered with burns, but otherwise unaffected. Or it simply ignored the pain. "I am the Harbinger of your destruction. You cannot win." it boomed. Taunting seemed to be it's favored modus operandi when having people to communicate with.

Not willing to let up, he had his Deva Path raise it's arm and pull the enemy in close.. "Bansho Ten'in!"

Asura Path brought up it's other arm, a number of sharp blades emerging from the wrist and struck the momentarily flying enemy directly in the face. But it was followed by an odd sensation that Nagato could both feel and see, as the blades shattered, unable to penetrate the Collector General's thick hide. But then again, he glimpsed a brief blue light that radiated from the creature's forehead just before the impact. A biotic barrier.

"Shinra Tensei!" Nagato howled, crashing it into the wall on the opposite side of the room.

It stumbled from the crater in the wall, winded, but not damaged.

This was the worst, it wasn't an overly difficult opponent, but extremely hard to actually injure. It was quite honestly beginning to damage his pride. He could easily flatten a city, but unable to burst this misshapen crab's shell open. Although... to be fair with himself, if he went all out, he would cause damage that could potentially make matters worse, especially as he did not know where the other teams are, it could greatly hamper their progress. It was annoying, to put it bluntly. The thing went on ahead with another apocalyptic comment. He barely payed it any attention at all.

But so far, only Deva Path, Asura Path and he himself were able to fight effectively. Animal Path, with all the contract animal species extinct turned out to be useless in anything but a distraction. Preta Path could not absorb biotics and Naraka Path he barely managed to keep out of the way. He contemplated sending the superfluous Paths back to the ship. But at this rate...

He made Preta Path leap in front of him, just in time to take a heavy biotic throw, Nagato himself was knocked down as the Path crashed through him and into the wall behind with sufficient force to shatter it.

"Such force..." the man whispered, he would have been done away with if that blow had connected.

The fight was interrupted as an infernal sound ripped through the air. Like a thousand sharp nails clawing at a blackboard.

It came from above, by the elevator. Coming closer by the second. And if his ears weren't playing tricks on him, it's in the process of being torn apart.

Even the opponent halted in it's attacks in faint irritation. And several seconds later, Hinata fell into view, hitting the surface of the lift that had not moved since the Collector General used it. Naruto landing immediately afterward, on all four, keeping himself from landing on Hinata, grabbed her waist with the subsequent motion and threw her into the chamber.. the girl letting out a gasp as she hit the floor a few feet further away.

Naruto himself whipped around and shot a small Chakra projectile up the lift before throwing himself out of the contraption.

What the orb hit, Nagato wasn't all that sure about, but it couldn't possibly had passed any further than thirty feet before the shaft exploded with terrible force, the shock-wave nearly threatening to crack the chamber below wide open, throwing everyone off their feet, including the enemy.

Good.

"Naruto, Hinata! Bring up your Chakra arms, strike this creature down and fast!"

Hinata was the first one who had comprehended the order.. Naruto had clutched his ears during and after the explosion, probably failed to hear the order given. To fix that little detail, she merely gestured for him to repeat her motions.

She raised her arm, pouring Chakra around it to form a giant fists that seemed to be clad in scales before thrusting it towards the Collector General who barely had managed to get back on it's lower limbs, the Chakra arm stretching in the direction of the target with a full force punch, though with an open palm. Smashing the opponent into the wall, a couple of limbs bent out of shape, it's shell further burned by the close proximity of demonic Chakra. The wall behind it, already damaged from the former shock-wave and the struggle before that seemed to be at the verge of breaking apart.

Naruto repeated the motion, with a curled fist.. striking the Collector General just as it attempted to retaliate, sending it through the wall, exiting the chamber and flying off into the distance of the massive stretch of space below, seemingly melting away as it fell deeper into the haze.

Nagato released a sigh of relief, but was cut short as the floor suddenly collapsed when the machine below pulled back an arm and brought it's left fist clean through. He could faintly hear Hinata crying out in surprise amidst the chaos, neither teens having noticed the machine below that continued to glower up at the organics it tried to get at now that Harbinger's primary puppet among the Collectors had been brought out of it's line of fire.

Nagato lost sight of the teens for the time being and retreated into the only stable grounds he could find, resolving to send the less useful Paths back to the Normandy at the very least before engaging this monstrosity.

* * *

Shepard and the others waited along the walls, behind cover while Garrus set up the explosive charge on yet another blast door. There had been no further resistance from the Collectors for a span of more than ten minutes. For whatever reasons.

"Alright, it's set. Get down and plug your ears!" Garrus called out as he joined the rest and readied his omni-tool for remote activation. He counted down from three, indicated by a raised hand before hitting the trigger. A thunderous crack roared through the area from the detonation.

Konan looked briefly over the edge, the charge had blown a hole through the door. Barely large enough for them to climb through.

"There we go..." Garrus whispered before he took point, peering through the hole with his rifle held at the ready. And once he became sure that the coast are at least relatively clear, he waved the rest forward.

"I'll go first." Grunt told the rest as he went, barely managing to squeeze through the hole. Legion followed right after. Shepard had told it to keep a distance from the Kalinin for the time being... the result being that the Synthetic gave the Kalinin a very wide berth.

No sooner had it passed through before it's artificial voice reached them.

"Warning, energy leak significant!"

That said, a red haze had begun to travel back through the hole... most of those present taking a step back away from the gas-like phenomenon. It looked almost ghostly, and definitely unnatural.

"Grunt, can you hear me?" Shepard shouted in urgency.. eliciting a prompt response from the Krogan;

"... What?" the Krogan said, sounding more annoyed than endangered.

"There's little reason to worry, Shepard. It's simply Chakra. Although a heavy and malevolent one at that." Tenten told the rest in a reassuring manner.

"Malevolent? Is it dangerous?" Mordin asked, curious.

"No, it's not dangerous going in there as long as you don't venture into the places with the highest concentrations." Konan shrugged. Shivering lightly though, right before she ventured through the hole.

The others hesitated before starting to move in once Mordin had gone through. Shepard, Tali and Thane guarded the back until it was their turn to move in.

Once in there, Shepard could see that the haze being dense enough to form a foggy environment.

"Don't wander recklessly, there could be a cliff nearby for all we know." Miranda cautioned from somewhere ahead. A large crash could be heard... the noise came from above.

"What was that?" Grunt looked up at the ceiling that he could not see at all.

Another booming noise was heard and felt, followed by an even louder one.

Everyone's attention were drawn entirely elsewhere at the unsettling sound of something gnawing, like a hungry beast. Several voices seemed to panic momentarily.

"Don't worry, it's just Samehada." Kisame told them with a small sneer.. "So much delicious Chakra it can't seem to stay still."

"Thing gives me the creeps." Tenten shivered, taking a step further and nearly fell off the cliff that made itself known. Her fall only averted as Legion, of all people, took her by the collar of her blouse and pulled the girl back. And made itself scarce before she could turn to acknowledge her savior.

"You alright?" Konan asked the girl, her expression filled with concern.

"Y-yes... who saved me? Was it you?"

The woman shook her head and helped Tenten back on her feet.

The team eventually managed to size upon the path before they moved, and found it to spiral lazily upwards. And the further up they climbed, the more the fog seemed to clear away.. the battle further up sounded much more clear as well. Whatever went on, it must be big.

Before they knew, it.. the smooth solid metal surfaces and organic matter of the ground transitioned onto a surface with a much more rough feel to it. Not to mention sounding pretty hollow if the much louder footsteps were of any indication. They had, without fully knowing, stepped onto an elaborate array of scaffolding that stretched throughout the massive expanse before them.

The scenery stood as fairly surreal. The scaffold spread into the distance like a great number of boats tied together upon an ocean of red, as if it's on fire. Grunt and Konan took point, the former kept his gun at the ready, occasionally stopping to size upon the surroundings.

They did not know what this space are being used for... but as they pushed on, a massive figure appear out of the thin haze up ahead. Back when they started, it merely looked like a shadow. But now it towered over them to an incredible extent. There was no doubt that the thing before them are the Jubi that have been one of the major reasons they came here for. And around it, an even more massive set of scaffolding had been set in place, covering it almost entirely. The Dreadnought so big that it stretched into the darkness below. Impossible to see it's general shape from their position. And they weren't certain if they are looking at the ship's back or front. Remembering the general description.. Jubi roughly translating to Ten-Tails. They guessed that it's probably the front-side.

However, something huge suddenly crashed through the metal panels to the far left of their position. A monstrous metallic sound thundering across this enormous space.

Shepard and the others arrayed themselves as a large clawed hand forced it's way up from the hole the machine made amidst the scaffolds, and grabbed onto several of the metal plates, twisting the construct out of shape as it forced itself upright. What seemed to be a huge skeleton with blood-red eyes made itself known to them.. and yet at the same time ignored them, instead focusing on enemies unseen.

To Shepard's surprise, all of the Kalinin in the area could be seen trembling as if deeply disturbed. Different from the others mix of disgust, surprise.. or in two cases where a crew member, Grunt, howled in the joy of finding a worthy adversary. And Legion, who looked more focused on analyzing this newly found enemy.

"By Kami, do you feel that shit?" Kisame mouthed..

Hidan and Kurotsuchi almost fell backwards.. "This is... beyond fucked up." the former stated breathlessly.

"What's going on with you people?" Shepard asked in confusion, just as the huge machine tilted it's head down towards them.. a motion accompanied by a sudden presence that landed close to the group.

Nagato.

Before Mordin could inquire.. Nagato interrupted him. "It's a Void Demon, it's filled with organic matter gathered from Humans, if the design are anything to go by. It's wreaking havoc with our senses, it's like a well of suffering souls."

The monstrosity raised a massive fist and 'charged' their position, shattering whole rows of panels as it did and forcing the team to scatter in all directions to avoid the blow. Except Nagato, whom raised a palm. "Shinra Tensei!" throwing the fist away with the force of his technique. But it felt less than useful against this type of opponent, other than as crowd control.

Jacob jumped as a rain of bullets bounced off the surrounding area. He could faintly discern tracer rounds in the fog and found their relative point of origin.

"Commander! Collectors entrenched up ahead!"

"I know!" Shepard called back, already having directed team one and two to head towards the Jubi while the Kalinin tried to delay the Human-Reaper's advance before joining the rest. Which did not take too long, Konan placed down explosive tags along the panels surrounding the machine and set them off.. causing it to plummet into the depths below, followed by it's landing sharply ten seconds afterward. But from the noise, it's already climbing back up towards them.

That done, the Kalinin followed the rest with all haste. Their advance towards the Jubi didn't involve much in the way of coordination. They possessed next to no solid ground to stand on and no cover at all. They needed to get to the more elaborate scaffolds ahead as quickly as possible and shot at whatever targets presented themselves the most during their approach, making sure to spread out while doing it.

* * *

"So... will we providing fire support, or get down to join them?" Naruto asked... barely able to see what went on down there, between all the lights and the sounds that steadily got worse. The two were practically standing on the wall beyond the chamber they had been in previously.

"H-he told us not to hold back, so for the moment I guess we should just assist from afar." Hinata responded.

"Okay... you aim, I shoot?"

A brief nod.. gazing down at the are with her Byakugan again. It sure made it easier to discern where to shoot and where not to. Managing to discern the detail down there more easily by using only a few colors, black indicating solid space. Gray indicating the empty space, and white indicating all that moved.

Naruto advanced to what could be referred to as Stage two, four-tails. Powering up another Chakra projectile. Now only requiring directions in which to fire. He could not see what was happening down there at all.

"Down there.. sixty degrees down, fifteen to the right."

The boy aligned himself relative to the wall and angled his shot as specified and let it rip. Feeling the massive recoil as the concentrated ball of Chakra sped down towards the target area, a massive detonation being the result as all the scaffolding in that area was destroyed. Another setback for the Human-Reaper, which now had to move elsewhere to find proper handhold in order to bring itself up. Hinata for some reason could not see it all that clearly... or it was the disturbing feeling of pure disgust that prevented her from looking directly at it. So instead, she had Naruto aim at where it tried to move instead.

"G-good hit.. but you should go back a tail or two, w-we can't have our friends b-blown away by the blast wave." Hinata told him.

"... So much for going all out." Naruto mumbled, finding it annoying how fragile things are in space, he missed fighting on the surface of a planet. "Gotcha. Where next?"

Truth be told, there weren't much they could do without making things difficult for their friends and allies. Hinata analyzed the area below for a moment before...

"Scratch that, jump!" The girl cried out the moment as her attention drifted upwards. Something was coming down from above.

* * *

They had gotten this scattered already...

Tali leaned out of cover, which consisted merely of a rather thin pillar, aimed down at a Drone as it tried to take a shot at her. "Not on my watch!" she uttered while pulling the trigger, watching as the Drone fell.

Grunt stood not close by, dueling with at least two Husks that charged them.. he blew the first one to pieces with a well placed shotgun blast, and proceeded to crush the second by ramming it at full speed. And as far as she could tell, had a lot of fun doing it.

The rest were scattered all over the place so damned quickly. But she could hear the clattering of guns coming from the distance in just about all directions. The Collectors barely had much of a system to this scaffold, or if there is, she couldn't see it. The teams went up and down different ramps, ending up in wildly different places.

But the greater problem came from the sheer number of Abominations... Husks that carried the role of suicide-bombers. But most of these seemed to be heavily contaminated, carrying blobs of energy that made the explosion they cause all the more violent. She had to remind Grunt every time one reared it's ugly head at them.

"Grunt, get back!" she shouted, the Krogan clumsily halting in his charge.. Aiming down the targeting reticule her visor provided, releasing one bullet into the monster and watched it drop. And that's without mentioning the sheer number of Collectors gathered around this Dreadnought... The sheer size of the thing amazed her though. She thought Sovereign was gigantic... no kidding, it easily dwarfed the Destiny Ascension in sheer size and tonnage. But this thing would have made Sovereign look like a midget by comparison.

But not only did this place seem like a labyrinth, it also provided obstructive hazards as well that limited their movement. The Dreadnought seemed to sport a number of holes in it's hull, through which large gusts of Chakra kept pouring out of. She tried once to move through, but her suit's alarms went off immediately before entering it. Similar to if she tried to enter a high-pressure environment. Grunt could maybe make it through, but no such chances should be taken.

Simply put, they were stuck trying to take out the Collector forces infesting this ancient machine without entering it. This is what everything boiled down to. No way they could even hope to approach the control center at this rate.

She checked the line of fire again for whatever else would creep out of the woodwork at their present location. But it seemed like Grunt took them all down during the time she spent taking a trip through the train of thought. The Krogan stood there, laughing in a boastful manner as he kicked a dead Drone's head.. scoffed and turned to look for additional targets. Tali stood up and moved to follow him, especially when he vanished past a corner, having discovered the next set of live punching bags. Tali quickly installed a combat drone and sent it in to support Grunt's reckless advance.

* * *

The Husk fell to pieces as a trio of bullets tore through it's midsection. And another one quickly followed the first. But it was like shooting down an ocean.

Thane and Garrus worked hard at it, building significant distance and trying put down the swarm of Husks bearing down at them from there. But shoot one, and two more climbed up and replaced it. They had found themselves close to what could be called a Husk central.

"Come on, die already!" Garrus grimaced, squeezing the trigger again to put down yet another of the Synthetics, only for the rest behind it to continue lumbering forward, unfazed. He gave the seal on the side of his rifle a slap, ejecting the spent heat sink and inserting a new one with the same motion.

Thane looked far more composed, but carried the similar amount of frustration as the wall far behind got steadily closer as they retreated. In a labyrinth like this, they had gotten themselves herded into a dead-end. It was starting to look very bad.

However, only until the panels above suddenly shattered as something came in with the force of cannonballs. Garrus and Thane both cried out in surprise as they threw themselves at each their respective wall and let the sudden invasion pass them by, and watched it smash through the gathering of Husks in a similar manner to that of a Human ball game called Bowling.

Only in this case, there are two balls... and both are Jinchuriki.

"Late, but appreciated!" Thane coughed as the smoke cleared, the number of Husks having been sharply cut down from the intervention.

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto groaned, coming up on all four and ran once he had stopped rolling. Hinata followed suit, both wrapped in their Demon cloaks on stage two from the looks of it. The demonic visages unsettling on the eye.

"Much apologies, b-but you need to find some cover, right now." the girl called out.

"Why is that?" The Turian responded.

"Look behind you." Naruto shouted back as the teens turned and anchored themselves to the floor, as if preparing for something.

Garrus did just that, gazing up through the large hole that had been punching through the scaffolding. The color drained from his face, tattoo and all at the sight that awaited him. Thane reacted in a similar manner, and much quicker to put Hinata's suggestion to heart.

The Praetorians that retreated from the hangar bays earlier had returned, with gusto. In the fog, Garrus could not hope to count them all. But he could see a large number of glowing eyes approaching. It did not help that they could feel the vibrations of something huge, the Human-Reaper... unnervingly close by. Sufficed to say, the Turian found sufficient reason to turn about and run with all haste, quickly overtaking Thane, whom had managed a significant head-start.

"About time.." Naruto mouthed at them once the aliens had gotten past the Jinchuriki. It wasn't that comfortable to stay on standby with an active Bijudama in their mouths. This time packing more power. Friendly fire's no longer an issue.

One slight pause follow as they aimed.. and fired, the teens clawing deep gashes in the metal beneath them as they fought the recoil. The energy orbs raced for the immediate targets at the front of the enemy formation, momentarily turning the 'night' into day, causing a great number of the descending Praetorians to simply melt away under the force of the assault as their barriers collapsed.

The smoke left behind from the twin explosions faded slowly, more of the monsters appearing from the dark.

Garrus had very little choice but to feel very impressed over the powers of the jinchuriki. But why are both of them coughing? "What's wrong? we still got more incoming."

"Urgh.. For your information, preparing and launching a Bijudama feels like vomiting. Try doing that in succession without feeling somewhat nauseous afterward." Naruto coughed a reply.

"Meaning you can't fight?" Thane asked, having put his rifle away and replaced it with his sniper rifle.. clutching the weapon tightly.

"N-no. We'll be fine, just going to engage them in melee for the time being." Hinata shook her hands as she got up and crouched instead of staying on all four. "Can we count on you guys for support?"

"..." Thane stood silent for a moment before he flashed a very rare grin.. "Of course. Keep their attention, we'll do everything we can to assist."

"Then let's do it!" Naruto beamed and began to charge as the approaching Praetorians opened fire.

* * *

The Scion eventually took it's last step before it finally keeled over, having been too heavily damaged to remain functional.

Shepard breathed a sigh of relief, as did Jacob. The monster had come out of nowhere, barely a few feet away from them after having rounded the latest corner. The fifteen seconds it took to kill the thing felt like hours.

"I'm seeing no further hostiles. But from the sound of it, there's heavy action going on elsewhere." Jacob voiced his thoughts, easing down on one knee as he took a short breather. "We will need to regroup soon. But no one's able to tell us their exact position. Why did the Collectors build this scaffold like a maze?"

"We only have to tell everyone else who can to hold their position.. that way, we can track them down and reform the teams as we move along. As for the maze, maybe it's a method of indoctrination?" Shepard responded thoughtfully.

"You sure about that?"

"No, that's nothing more than my take on it." he shrugged, looking into the distance as he heard a clash of grinding metal a short distance away. "Anyway, we should keep moving.." Shepard continued, about to broadcast orders.. but he was hailed before he could begin.

"Shepard, do you copy? Come on, Commander, this is an emergency!" Joker cried out through the communicator as if it's a megaphone. Making Shepard wince. Communication's finally back up it seemed.

"I hear you Joker, what's happening?"

"We just got a call from Councilor Anderson. He have revealed information about their ongoing hunt for the Rogue Kalinin. They found the correct station... but their progress has been slowed. But worse is... his men have detected abnormal energy readings coming from th-" Joker paused, as if distracted.

"Shit got worse, energy levels coming from the Chakra relay station are peaking. Commander. It's... about to fire."

And as the Commander stared into space, his heart felt suddenly very heavy. Jacob whipped around and brought his gun up as a Drone appeared nearby and attempted to kill it. Only for the bullets to bounce off as it suddenly radiated brilliantly with biotic power.. "-Assuming direct control!"


	32. Chapter 32

"This will be over soon. Before you know it, the galaxy will bow before us." Kabuto whispered as the operation continued.. Tayuya herself was practically mesmerized by the view. The view filled with light, with every light being an explosion that spelled another asteroid pulverized, or a ship coming apart.

The girl tried to focus, but the amount of accumulated Chakra had increased so much that everyone would have noticed it even if they lost most of their senses. She felt as though her skin's being lightly electrocuted. "How much longer?" she cried out.

"Now! We're just waiting for Madara." Kabuto called back, his and Zetsu's attention turning to the view of the enemy fleet on the display, they watched one of the Frigates tumble out of control and struck against the side of nearby Cruiser. Madara's deed most likely, since the ship hadn't been hit at all.

The Uchiha reappeared not far away form them the exact moment of the Frigate's impact. His mask seemed lightly cracked, maybe the aliens attempted to find a way to engage him and managed to get a hit in.

"Madara, station is ready to fire. Get in position and do your thing." Kabuto told him, gesturing to the center of the station, situated directly above both the statue at the bottom and the control space on the side. As the weapon charged, arms stretched out from the chitinous walls to form a podium surrounded by data.

Madara nodded in an appreciative manner as he leaped, the stations weak artificial gravity standing no chance of holding him until he landed on the podium and watched as the data readings intensified.

All lights are green. From the outside, the desperate viewers from the opposing fleet could only watch as the crescent mood-shaped construct glowed with an ethereal light, what seemed like an artificial star glowing between the points of the station.

Power coursed through him. Unspeakable power. "Incredible.." he spoke quietly as the enormous Chakra surged all around him. And with a wicked smile, he tore off his mask and discarded it... watching the object float away before turning towards the main display with a triumphant grin. "Yes, this is it."

Madara placed his palms together, molding his Chakra.. letting the Statue's power surge through him, powering his every cell. The plan which he longed for would finally reach completion, but not only that, wildly beyond his wildest dreams. His eyes changing form as the moment grew closer, manifesting his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. And through his eyes, it's as though he could see the entire galaxy. So much power awaited, this was merely a taste. He finished molding his Chakra. He then let it cascade as he cast the Jutsu, feeling the sight in his right eye slowly fade. And for a moment, as the station fired, it was as though the entire star system became embraced by the resulting light.

"Izanagi."

* * *

He watched two more Drones enter the stage, to assist the one called fancied itself as the 'Harbinger'. As if it alone wasn't trouble enough.

Shepard cast a sidewards glance at Jacob, whom had been thrown away head-first into one of the many pillars in the area, dropping unconscious from the blow... In all likelihood, he even got concussion from the ordeal. It did not help things at all.

He leaned to the side of his little piece of cover and aimed down the barrel, squeezing the trigger and watching as the Collector in his immediate sight collapse as the bullet punctured the creature's throat.

Harbinger attacked him with some sort of biotic attack that sent him staggering back, followed by a flurry of bullets hammering his kinetic barrier, breaking through as he threw himself down.. the next few bullets barreling through the air at him as he made the movements.. too late to move out of the way, so instead he moved as to make the projectiles hit his armor at the most shallow angle possible. He briefly thanked higher powers as the bullets traveled along his armor and into the closest wall.

He tried to heft his rifle, but found that he dropped it during the heat of the former situation, and instead opted for picking up his pistol, shooting quickly from his hip, striking the second Drone in it's abdomen, before turning the gun towards the Harbinger. Pulled the trigger, and grunted an exclamation as the bullet bounced off the Harbinger's biotic barrier.

"I really don't have time for this shit, alright?" he shouted in annoyance at the persistent Collector.

"Your defeat are inevitable, no matter how hard you strive for victory." Harbinger spoke with contempt.

Shepard pushed himself from the floor, holstering the pistol and pulling the shotgun from his back, cocking it at the Harbinger and pulled the trigger, watching the monster be pushed back as the rain of pellets struck it full force. "And you think you've won?" he laughed, despite himself. "If this ship isn't removed from the galactic core soon, neither of us will win."

"Talking will do you no good, Shepard." Harbinger growled in response, recovering from the blast, throwing the Human off his feet with the next biotic attack. Stomping over to put an end to him.

But as it tried to reach for Shepard, it felt the back-portion of it's carapace almost shatter as it was attacked from behind.

Shepard saw it, an attack basically composed of a Cryo blast followed by a single bullet. He could see the gaping wound in it's carapace as it whirled around to face the newly arrived foe.

"Arrived on time, it seems." Mordin whispered under his breath.

"You will know pain." the Harbinger rumbled.

"Very familiar with pain. Are you?" the Salarian raised his Omni-tool, the front of the possessed Collector exploding into flames. Causing the creature to stagger back as the Harbinger's temporary puppet's senses became overwhelmed.

The Harbinger briefly cursed the feeble build of the Drone it was acting through as it attempted to retaliate, only for Shepard to get up and shoot it from behind with his shotgun, directly into the place where the carapace had been cracked open.

The creature tumbled to the ground, turning into ashes within the next instant. "This is not over, Shepard." it managed to whisper menacingly before the body vanished completely.

Shepard settled himself into a crouch.. the sounds of fighting going on elsewhere ringing into his ears, mixed with the footsteps of Mordin as he came closer.

"Problem?" the Salarian asked promptly.

"Yes, got a message.. basically the Rogue Kalinin have succeeded... the pulse that will convert the Jubi and everything nearby, is on it's way." Shepard sighed, trying to think. Their original plan was for tug ships to arrive once the station had been secured, which would then tow the Jubi back to the relay, and out of here.

He quickly asked EDI to review the situation... and it wasn't heartening in the least. Enemy forces are still present outside, though both sides had taken casualties in the fighting. The Collectors still got a solid standing force. The fighting came to a standstill after the Chakra wave earlier, but it was slowly starting back up. Double that with an unknown amount of time needed for the pulse to arrive. His expression darkened.

"Konan's with me. She may know what to do." Mordin spoke in a reassuring manner. Or at least, the Professor hoped that would be the case.

As if commanded, Konan caught up with them. Her hard gaze settling briefly on the comatose Jacob before focusing on the Commander. The expression on his face told volumes that something was wrong. "What happened?" she asked, fearing the worst.

It did not take long for Shepard to explain the gravity of their situation, trying to keep it short but detailed enough to give her a full image of the odds.. and asked what they could possibly do to turn this around. But to add further weights, Konan seemed just as lost as he is.

All eyes rested on Konan as she, with an unreadable expression thought very deeply.

Her eyes rested on one of the less obscuring spaces of their otherwise enclosed immediate environment, peering at a section of the Jubi's hull. Wanting a more clear view as something suddenly began to nag at her... she dumped a few explosive tags along the paneled walls and destroyed them, much to the confusion of the others. Once it was out of the way, she came to look upon a crack in the massive Dreadnought's armor, from which billowed a massive column of smoke, made up of the Jubi's monstrous Chakra. It gave her a ghost of an idea.

"There... there might be one way." Konan whispered.

"Care to elaborate?" Mordin asked with some intrigue. He heard apparently.

The woman turned to face them.. "We could not possibly do it ourselves.. using too much Chakra are lethal to us. But by using the Chakra of the Jubi..."

"Quit stalling! What do you need to do!" Shepard inquired roughly as he stood up, imploring for Konan to continue.

"We have no choice but to try and facilitate the Maker's method of deep space travel." Konan replied... "A space-time transfer technique. But..."

"But what?" Shepard stressed.

"Transfer technique's became quite nearly common knowledge among us during the war. But I need to know more about the methods used by the Makers.. Try to contact the others, ask for Naruto or Hinata. Preferably both. We got to incorporate whatever they may know into what we already have to make this work." Konan told him right back, it wasn't easy to keep it short.. but she spoke fast enough to match Mordin's pace.

Shepard nodded quickly and turned around, opening a channel, broadcasting across the scattered teams. Inwardly he deeply hoped for such a plan to work. They'd be out of options otherwise.

* * *

"Commander, do you copy?" Garrus called out after the broadcast had been sent out. Shepard voiced an affirmative to that. "Both are right here with us. But, we are kinda busy-" the Turian paused as the Commander interrupted him, Thane glancing at him before his attention turned him back to firing at the continually approaching Praetorians, despite the Kalinin's plentiful efforts to tear the machines to pieces.

"What? Alright, I'll tell them ASAP!" Garrus raised his voice as he proceeded to shout for the Jinchuriki ahead. Only gaining Naruto's attention who just happened to be looking over his shoulder at the time, while Hinata seemed too busy grappling with one of the machines.

"What is it?" Naruto cried out.

"Shepard got a message for you two, from Konan. It's incredibly urgent!" the Turian gestured wildly for the boy to come over. Naruto seemed greatly confused, and made great haste as he raced back towards them while Hinata finished decapitating her current opponent and launched herself at the next one, pressing a solitary palm against it's side, performing Hakke Kusho in point blank range. And with the Sanbi's Chakra used in the attack, the results was... impressive to say the least.

"S-say what?" Naruto yelled the moment he heard the details of the request Konan just burdened the teens with. He got a prompt order to remember and figure it out.. and then find Tenten to finish creating the new transfer technique. "You guys must be kidding me!" he continued, rearing his head as if in pain. "H-Hinata!"

The other aliens found their workload increased significantly as the girl stopped just short of tearing her next target a new one, using it as a springboard instead as she hurried over to the obviously distressed Naruto. Neither Thane nor Garrus could offer anything in the way of attention as their hectic discussion ensued.

Hinata paled at what Naruto told her, and as they struggled to remember such fine details. There remained little choice but to try comparing techniques they know to whatever the Makers utilized. Summoning Jutsu and the Reverse Summoning Jutsu. Both being similar to it. But transfer techniques even more so. The Heavenly transfer technique could transport things to target destination at light speed. But that would be too slow. They did not know if the Jutsu might send the station away along with the jubi. They could end up stranded on board for years. Chances of survival, zero.

Unacceptable.

Within a minute of heated discussion, they dug their way through the floor. The area getting very crowded with approaching Collector forces at that point. And with that move, Thane and Garrus both initiated a tactical retreat, vanishing up a nearby ramp in a tremendous hurry.

Hinata ascertained with her Byakugan that Tenten's current position are, at present, seven floors beneath them. And the Jinchuriki headed down in the most direct manner possible, literally digging downwards, floor by floor. One of the floors being heavily contested. But the teens ignored the fighting and instead continued downwards.

And once down, they did not even need to look for the girl. For no sooner than they arrived at the desired floor did gunfire sound off from directly behind them.

Tenten did not seem surprised at much else than their choice of route.. "Did you figure it out." .. she peered over her shoulder and fired another multiple-gun salvo downrange at the gathering of Drones further away. Besides the obvious time problem they all have now, she ended up fighting alongside Legion, whom maintained a steady stream of fire at their mutual enemy. Not the most ideal partner, the Kalinin thought.

"We think so..." Hinata grimaced.

Tenten sighed, getting down on her knees, put the plank she carried down, letting all the guns that her gun-array consisted of clattering to the floor. The girl pulled out a scroll and began to unfurl it. "Um, Legion, was it? Keep them away from us, would you?" she tried to keep her voice even.

The synthetic clicked once as it fired once more before regarding the others.. "Yes. Initiating covering fire." it spoke as it stepped up it's rate of fire.

"For all our sakes, I hope whatever you got works." she offered to them the unfurled scroll.

* * *

"Yes, Legion?" Shepard spoke up, sitting on the broken husk of a Praetorian.. just one of many Collectors that recently attempted to take him and his group down. He deeply hoped for a positive update.

"Any news?" Konan asked, who tended to Jacob. Still comatose. She made him lie on his side, just in case the Human vomited.

It took several seconds before the Commander answered.. "Legion told me that they have managed to create what could be a viable transfer technique. Their currently approaching the most suitable place in their area, though it only mentioned that it's located in a place they did not seem to like. Legion went along to offer support... and will be picking up Jack along the way." Shepard frowned as he checked his omni-tool. Legion had also sent him a set of coordinates. Additional sets having been delivered to the others as well, according to the message. All leading to one rendezvous point. A platform located roughly one kilometer below his group's current position. All organized on the way between Legion mapping the area along with the help of Hinata. "We should head out.. No use staying here." he told the others as he stood and walked over to Jacob.. planning to drag him along.

But the world did not seem very willing to let him do that.

The sound level became incredibly obscene all of a sudden, the Human momentarily losing all sense of where he was. The floor brutally shaking below them. As though the surroundings turned into white, and threw him off his legs. A wicked odd sensation of experiencing an earthquake that attempted to break the sound barrier in a chaos of flying debris and smoke.

By the time he came to... having blacked out for two fleeting seconds before he could gaze at the sundered area around him. Everyone had fallen to the floor as well, a distance away from where they stood previously, all equally confused. That was when he saw it.

The Human-Reaper had arrived before them, an enormous stretch of scaffolding having been brutally swept away, giving the enormous machine an unobstructed view to the team it had been directed to. Several Drones landing on it from a passing Platform, one of them getting the customary treatment as the Harbinger possessed it. "Assuming direct control!" it rumbled as if the nail could not possibly be hammered down hard enough. "Shepard, you have become an annoyance."

"So have you." Shepard muttered as he forced himself back to his feet, hefting his rifle, glaring back at the Harbinger. The response was immediate.

The Human-Reaper lunged forth, reaching out with a massive curled fist. Shepard shot once before throwing himself out of the way. The bullets impacting harmlessly against the machine's armor. He was dimly aware of the place at which he removed himself from being turned into scrap almost effortlessly.

One pistol shot could be heard, the bullet impacting with the Human-Reaper's right eye. The monster reared back slightly from the blow before doubling it's efforts in apparent anger, striking at Mordin. "Not on my watch." Shepard whispered as he brought up his rifle again and squeezed the trigger, firing a pair of bursts at the exact same eye, stopping it's attack in it's tracks as the machine withdrew to cover it's damaged optics.

"Eyes seem to be structural weaknesses." he could hear Mordin make the observation. Shepard drew the same conclusion.

"Then blinding it is our first priority! It'll give us enough space to withdraw until we can round up some more solid firepower." Shepard turned to Konan.. "Move Jacob someplace else when you can."

The female Kalinin seemed to be a full step ahead of him.. the comatose man was covered with paper everywhere but his face. The body hovering through the air now. "I will. Be careful, Shepard." she replied with a hushed voice before moving away in a hurry.

Shepard grimaced slightly while he turned back to the Human-Reaper as it moved to launch another assault, the Drones about it taking flight to approach their position. One of them landing a few feet away, lifting it's particle beam weapon in his general direction.

But the Human wasn't lost behind a wheel as he closed the gap with a few thundering steps, slamming the butt of his rifle into the creature's almost featureless face and tore the weapon from it's grip before kicking the body off the edge, sending it crashing into the wreckage below. He quickly hefted the new weapon of his and aimed at the next immediate target, pulled what counted as a trigger to the Collectors and watched the resulting beam 'impale' his opponent. The immediately dead Drone collapsing into a heap.

His next immediate source of attention quickly becoming the huge machine that seemed to glare directly at him as it's mouth started to glow brilliantly. It briefly made him think about what he had seen back in the hangar.

There was only one solution to that specific problem as the machine opened fire, he threw himself to the side in a bid to avoid the resulting beam that punched through the immediate structures in it's path, melting a hole through the scaffolding all the way to the Jubi's hull.

Blast it.. one hit from that and it's over. His eyes drifted to Mordin's position, who had gotten himself into a brief fisticuffs with one of the Drones.. which managed a blow to the Salarian's jaw before he managed to raise his pistol sufficiently to blow it's brain out. Mordin spat some blood down to the floor before he gunned down another opponent with ruthless efficiency.

He shook his head... and brought his weapon to bear, aiming at the machine's left eye.

* * *

Shit, this place's nothing but creepy. Twisted corridors, jagged edges everywhere. What seemed to be slimes on the walls colored the same way like that of the the haze hanging in the air. And the air felt so heavy that they all might as well be walking through an oddly thick soup.

Jack kept her shotgun at the ready, guarding the rear while Legion stayed on the front. If for only a moment, she envied it's ability to feel no fear at all.

Worse it was for the Kalinin that walked among them.. they turned paler the further they moved into the Jubi's structure. The plan being to find a fissure in the ship's armor. But the largest one, to their dismay, seemed to be located within the Dreadnought. Not too far in though, luckily.

"W-wait here." Hinata told her.. And the reason was obvious. The path ahead from here seemed as though completely covered with a red fog that her eyes could not penetrate at all.

"... Fuck." she cursed in a hard tone. Agreeing only reluctantly. Truth be told, she did not wish to be left alone here. But at the very least she could cover this path and prevent enemies from sneaking up to the rest from behind.

The Kalinin and the Synthetic found their way, shortly, into a small room with multiple entrances. This fissure was located relatively close to one of the Jubi's cores. And this particularly one leaked Chakra through many places at once around the primary chamber. But they did not plan to go any closer. Such an action could be lethal. Regardless of equipment.

"We'll plant it here." Tenten suggested, visibly taking a huge amount of effort to speak without letting fear drip into her sentence. All this Chakra felt gruesome, thoroughly corrupted in every sense. It was taking all of her concentration not to flee.

The Jinchuriki nodded in agreement in a hurry.. Tenten fastened the paper on which the transfer technique had been inscribed into. Another length of paper being fastened next to that of the transfer technique. A seal that would consume the Chakra of the surroundings and use it to power the transfer technique. Additionally, three ignition glyphs were placed down as well, connected to the seal. One for each of them.

"Coast remains clear. No hostiles in the area, proceed." Legion reported once it finished surveying the immediate area.

"Here we go." Naruto said stiffly as he placed a palm against one of the ignition glyphs, the others following suit. All felt a substantial amount of energy being pulled out of their bodies. If it was just one, it would have killed the user due to the sheer amount of Chakra required to start the suction. The air beginning to thin as vast quantities of Chakra started being pulled into the seal and spent to power up the transfer technique.

Even Naruto's and Hinata's demon cloaks were beginning to flicker as the process continued. The teens stopped feeding energy into their cloaks and let them disperse.

All they could do now, was to wait for the Jutsu to become fully charged.

It seemed as though the wait would be uneventful, until they heard growling echoing in the distance. "Warning, danger imminent." the Geth reported.

"Obviously.." Naruto grumbled, bringing up his palm to form a Rasengan.. but it dispersed immediately as it was dragged away and absorbed by the seal. "That... may be a problem."

Tenten watched her gun array collapse completely, her efforts momentarily dedicated to collect a few of the weapons and sealing them away. In particular her Revenant's, she loved that particular weapon. She let the other guns remain scattered on the floor.

"We won't be able to use much in the ways of Jutsu for the duration of the charging process." Hinata observed, flailing her arms in a moment of panicked motion as Tenten tossed a Shotgun her way. Naruto caught the second one thrown their way.

Their weapons specialist shrugged.. "Then we got no choice but to use these."

Legion hefted it's massive Widow Anti-Material rifle and fired a round into one of the corridors. "Enemy contact!"

Now that it was less foggy, they had a better overview of the room's layout. Two tiers and five tunnels leading out of it. Three on their current one, and two on the one above. Fortunately, the ship's insanely chaotic interior provided plenty of additional cover.

* * *

Jack cursed as she kept watch for anything that might approach, but had yet to see anything. Frustration began to get the better of her. But then she felt the air shift.. the red fog began to drift deeper into the ship, towards where the others went. The woman looked behind her, seeing the fog diminishing. Judging it as a sign that it's safe to venture join the others, she moved in and soon found them getting set for an attack. "What the hell is going on?"

"We are about to come under attack, of course." Tenten voiced over the clicking sound from Legion as it opened fire again into the darkness of the corridor it stared into.

And then she saw them, spilling out of the other entrances. At first, she could see the corpse-like machines that Husks are. The difference however...

These used to be Krogan!

A faint detail in her memory striking the woman as she thought back to the mission where Shepard had gone to try and recruit Okeer, but got Grunt instead. The old Warlord had told them that he gave the Collectors many Krogan to get the technology they offered.

Was this the fate of those Krogan? She brought up her Shotgun, leveling it at one of the Husks charging at her position. Staring into those pale blue corpse-like eyes as the monster tried ram her, instead of simply using it's sharp claws. With a rough pull of a trigger and she got off a shot into it's chest.. it didn't even budge. A second blast, an arm came off, yet still it came. Jack threw herself out of it's way, and faintly watched it crash into the wall. She raised her weapon again and shot it's face this time, once. The body crashed to the floor, but still moved. One more shot and it's movements ceased.

Damn, these fuckers are tough, she thought inwardly.

Legion managed the threat just fine, it's Widow are already extremely deadly at long range, but close up like this. It was killing Krogan Husks every time one ended up on the business side of the gun. One shot, one kill.

But of the Kalinin, only Tenten managed to fight well. A Revenant in hand, she acted like Legion's wing man in a manner of speaking, killing the Husks that got past the Synthetic despite her displeasure with having to fight alongside it.

Naruto and Hinata of course haven't trained much with guns, and it showed. Right here, right now, where they are unable to field much of their abilities.. they have ended up being those that had to be protected, not relied upon.

So Jack hurried up to join Tenten to help holding the tide of back alongside the Synthetic, each target requiring inordinate amount of ammunition to take down with anything short of Legion's rifle.

One thing was certain.. this could get ugly.

* * *

"What's that? Is it Jacob?" she could hear Miranda shout in urgency.

Konan nodded slowly as she tilted the covered body towards the operative, showing his face more clearly. A thundering noise a distance away blasted past them, shaking the surrounding structure.

"Wait, where are the others?"

"Shepard and Mordin are currently busy. They told me to bring Jacob away, preferably somewhere remotely safe. And I believe our rendezvous location would suit well." she gestured over her shoulder at where the noise came from.

Another person spoke up.. "Damned good to see another friendly face in this place. Have only seen that Operative since I ended up in this place." Kisame, of course.

The haze seemed to shift, as if directed.. "What the...?" the missing-nin asked.

"It's started." Konan observed.

The fog seemed to move past them, towards the ship. And the pace increased even as they watched. Miranda tried to ask, but no words came. Utterly captivated by the sight.

* * *

"We need to get out of here, the Jutsu's about to activate!" Naruto shouted after he turned to the direction of the glyphs while he picked up Hinata in his arms. The girl caught a full force punch from one of the Krogan Husks and fell unconscious.

Tenten turned.. "What, already?" she paused before wildly gesturing for the others.. "You heard him, we need to move!"

"We suggest you move first. This platform will rearguard the retreat." Legion told them, gesturing for Jack to follow them out. The youths had already begun to run for the exit. It shot down the next Husk in it's sight before turning to follow.. it's optics for a moment resting on the glyphs as a strange orb of energy surrounded it, and watched as it suddenly expanded. "Warning!" It could only utter before the orb overtook it.

Jack cried out an incoherent curse, she and the others were quickly overtaken as well.. time seemed to slow down within the 'bubble' significantly.

Shepard looked over his shoulder as some strange noise came from the ship. Only to see what looked like a 'wall' of sorts expanding from the wall.. resembling a cross between the surface of water and a mass effect field. He could not help but shield his eyes as the wall blasted past him, dimly aware of the Harbinger's booming voice as it tried to grasp at what was happening.

Joker, sitting in the cockpit of the Normandy as repairs still was underway down below, gasped at the sudden phenomenon as it soon arrived at the ship.

It quickly expanded past the confines of the base itself, enveloping the Lance of the Six Paths much to the surprise of those on board.

George stood in the hangar of the crippled Babylon as the remaining crew evacuated into shuttles, the destination being the Karakorum which moved in closer to assist. The situation had been going from bad to worse, only the Karakorum remained as a viable force. The Teotihuacan was destroyed just a while ago. With it's engines done in, it became a sitting duck. Dragon and Griffin squadron had been obliterated. Only a few of Valkyrie squadron remained. Grave Hunters had fallen. Bulls-eye however still have two Frigates going on.

He looked towards the station, and blinked once as he saw the massive bubble which surrounded it. Falling to the deck as it came closer and closer until it had covered both of the fleets. It seemed as though the environment turned into solid glass, and felt a significant pull.. as if everything were being pulled into a bottomless pit.

And then, as soon as it began. It was over.

He did not know how long he had been out... but the moment he managed enough strength to climb back on his feet.. he moved towards the edge of the hangar and peered outside. The strange lights that previously surrounded them... gone. He lowered his gaze, and saw a planet below them. A strangely familiar planet from the looks of it.

"W-where are we... what happened?" he weakly gasped.

As if to provide an answer.. the AI of the Normandy invaded his communicator with the following words. "Palaven. The Turian home world."

* * *

The Harbinger quickly arrived at the same conclusion. The Collector General had managed to move back up to the Control center.. despite the extensive destruction. It could still access a few vital systems. The Harbinger grunted irritably at it's primary puppet. Injured from the battle and the fall it had been sent into. It was a miracle that it didn't die from all that. But the partially broken body lumbered about awkwardly, accessing system after system to issue orders. It considered all of it's Collector forces as expendable. Only useful as means to an end. And now that the Collectors' operations had become completely compromised, their only remaining use would be to sow as much destruction as possible before being wiped out.

But there seemed to be one thing it could use to it's advantage.

The amount of energy both inside and outside the Super-Dreadnought had thinned out considerably.

The various devices surrounding it were catching an a massively increased com traffic coming from the planet below. If the Harbinger could sneer, it would have done so.

Seeing the advantage for what it is. It tried again to activate the Super-Dreadnought. Watching as confirmations lined the board as both minor and major systems began to come on-line. The chaotic mix of 'personalities' melding together as if coming to an accord. The massive construct began to move, slowly flexing it's gargantuan limbs. Forelegs and hind legs pushed at the surrounding walls, utterly destroying the parts of the scaffolding's that surrounded it's limbs. It's ten tails lashed out and struck the walls also. Threatening to tear it's way out of the base. And from the depth of it's hull, roaring into the exterior, echoing throughout the base... came an outcry of pure blind rage.

The Jubi had awakened.


	33. Chapter 33

Shepard did not fully comprehend what was happening all around him. But with the scaffold falling apart, it was all he could do to simply maintain some semblance of balance, not to mention preventing himself from falling down several stories. Even the Human-Reaper whom he and Mordin fought started losing it's limited handhold and slipped away from them. But that did not exactly put them at ease.

The haze around them had cleared away, but the darkness remained. But he could discern something moving, striking the distant wall before them with tremendous force, causing the structures to break into massive debris from the impact. But one thing he became certain about. They avoided a galaxy-wide enslavement event only to see the awakening of a technological Cthulhu.

"Commander. Exercise caution!" he faintly heard Mordin call out as the Human-Reaper tried to climb back up at them. And Shepard with all the grace that a soldier could muster aimed his gun at it, close to pulling the trigger when a voice reached out for him through the chaos.

A platform hovered into sight, banking slowly towards his position. It moved in closer and turned towards the machine that wanted to provide him with all the pain the world could bring to bear. Crashing into it in full force and sent the machine through the scaffolds it had been trying to hold onto.

"Jump on, you guys. What are you waiting for?" Tali hollered.. the most of his team and most of the Kalinin accounted for. Except a few who might be stranded for all they knew, or at least somewhere inaccessible.

Shepard and Mordin quickly ran across the panels for as far as the limited stability could provide and launched themselves towards the platform that had come to hover a bare four feet away from the edge. Hidan and Thane catching them mid-flight before Tali had the platform move away from the Human-Reaper and circled around the Jubi even as it fought to wreck the place much like a chicken forcing it's way out of it's egg, only with a greater number of appendages. And several hell's worth of an attitude.

"What about the others?" Shepard shouted as soon as he could muster.

"We haven't found them yet!" Miranda grimaced.. "They might still be inside. But we don't know where!" her attention immediately turning towards the distant wall as it cracked open. The Jubi smashed it's way through the station's superstructure to open a path. Not remotely interested in waiting for the Collectors to release it.

Large sections could be seen bursting away from the station as the Jubi finally managed to free itself from the confines of the station, descending slowly towards the planet below.. the debris left in it's wake starting to burn up from reentry. It's descent completely unchallenged as none of the forces nearby able to engage it at this time.

Despite the Super-Dreadnoughts violent exit, the decompression proved to be surprisingly minimal, allowing the fleeing platform Shepard and the others crewed to get away without consequence. "Set course for the Normandy, full speed. Let's hope the repairs are far enough along for it to take off." The Commander told Tali, all but calmly.

"Indeed. We got to prepare for fight the thing below." Nagato murmured.. but he seemed out of breath, sitting on the floor with Asura and Deva Paths lying down, inactive.

"You shouldn't try it, Nagato. You have spent so much Chakra over the course of this assault." Konan knelt down by the man, placing a hand against his shoulder as if to keep him from getting back up. "I'll go and try to link up with the others who might already be down there."

"By yourself? No."

"I'll tag along with her, so take this time to rest and restore your energy. Get back to the others. We'll have the Jubi down before you know it." Kisame practically jumped into the conversation.

The man groaned.. not at all pleased. But under Konan's hard gaze, he did not find the will to refuse. "… I seriously doubt we can destroy it at this time. But maybe, with any luck you might manage to drive it away." The Paths woke back up as Nagato transferred some of his remaining Chakra into them.. "Hidan, Kurotsuchi. Come with me. We need to use the shuttle upstairs."

"Right!" both replied, Hidan more lazily.. the visage of those about to leave seemed to flicker as they departed from the platform as it moved on through the more cramped tunnels towards the Normandy, breaking a blast door asunder though sheer momentum along the way.

Shepard wanted to stop them, but recognized that he could not force them... remembering what Konan told him earlier about the dangers of overly expending ones Chakra. Their Achilles heel, in other words.

They eventually arrived in the hangar, the platform landing roughly so they could get back on board the ship. While en route, Joker quickly called in, telling that he have detected a number of Turian forces on approach. The Karakorum had begun it's retreat from the area. The Collector fleet however split up. One of the Cruisers started to descend to the planet below, followed by a vast swarm of what could be drop ships. While the rest moved in alongside remaining wings of Oculus to counter the local fleet. And before entering the Normandy, Shepard peered into the dark expanse beyond the station brightened by violently fluctuating lights as the distant exchange of fire began.

"Joker!" he called out upon entering the ship and making sure everyone's on board before he turned to the helmsman. "Are the Normandy ready for flight?"

"Yes, but we won't be entering the race-track again anytime soon." the man replied with a groan.

The Commander nodded briefly.. "That will have to do. Get us out of here, now!" And as he turned away and stared off into the wall, he hoped that those whom might be trapped on board the Jubi remained in good health.

* * *

Good health weren't precisely the words that could be used to describe their situation. This Reaper eventually managed to land in the middle of the radiation-scarred planet's wilderness, radiating every part of it's malevolence in all directions with impunity.

Not to mention that the landing of the ship caused the Kalinin on board to be thrown off the ship, falling to the landscape below. Legion could not tell how that happened, the situation turned into pure chaos the moment the Jubi initiated large scale movements. But the Jubi managed to land on it's feet and rumbled through the landscape, for the moment slowly regarding the area. Unexpectedly slow at that after the initial burst.

"Okay, I want off this damned ship. I really _don't _want to be indoctrinated." Jack whispered as she gazed down the slope that lead to the exit. It seemed to be located somewhere on the underside of the ship. So when it aligned itself properly prior to landing, gravity ensued. Legion managed to grab Jack's hand in time, or she would have fallen out as well. It wasn't sure about the others, but a Human would not survive falling from such heights.

"Affirmative. Exiting at this time are currently unwise. We advise waiting for more favorable conditions prior to leaving. Searching for additional data might prove useful, more so than inactivity, waiting."

Jack visibly shivered at the suggestion, not to mention the hint of a small info hunt. "You're serious aren't you?" she asked in near-resignation before forcing herself to calm down. "Damn it, alright. Have it your way! Where will we be going?"

Legion briefly scanned the environment with several modes before deciding upon a course towards what seemed to be the ship's closest core.. "This way." it told the Human before it hefted it's gun again and took point.. Jack following it after a moment of hesitation.

Jack found and retrieved her Shotgun, quickly checking it for any damage, and status of the seal attached to it before following the Synthetic.

Here's hoping this 'little' effort's worth the risk.

* * *

Shepard watched the displays as the Turian and Collector fleet clashed. Slugging away at each other from immense range while hordes of smaller craft engaged one another in fierce dog-fights, neither side refusing to offer the slightest inch of space.

He watched as a beam from one Collector cruiser lanced across space and sliced an opposing ship in half, secondary explosions visible across the unfortunate ship's hull. The Turians exacting their vengeance upon the culprit by gouging great wounds open in it's exterior with several heavy mass accelerator rounds. The entire side of the ship collapsing from the sheer punishment it received in short order, but remained still fit to fight as it's beam cannon fired once again, bisecting a Frigate that was in the process of diving towards the damaged ship.

At the moment however, they could not offer any assistance. He sent a message to the fleet, notifying his pursuit of the ship that had just made planet-fall. Also notifying the Citadel.

The Normandy approached the planet's atmosphere, scanning the surface until they found the Jubi stomping slowly across the wilderness like a living mountain of metal and nightmares. And the Turians appeared to be painfully aware of it's presence. The closest city being in the process of evacuation while military forces began to move into it to fortify it in anticipation of the Super-Dreadnought's arrival. The fact that Collector forces had begun to touch down didn't help matters.

"Do we have a fix on the time of the Reaper arriving at the city closest to it's location?"

"None sir." Joker shook his head.. "It's movements are sporadic. Sluggish. Think it's facing some sort of difficulties?" .. he waited for a response for a moment until the thought became too much of a pain.. "Still, I don't like our odds in this one. We're not dealing with a garden variety Godzilla here, you know."

"I'm aware.." Shepard responded more coldly than he intended.. "Can the Normandy assist if needed?"

"I wouldn't recommend it. The ship took a pretty bad beating when we crashed earlier. Don't think we should attempt entering an atmosphere either."

"Even worse, to think we can only go in by foot against such a monster." Shepard murmured.

"Shall I have the shuttle prepped for launch?" EDI asked plainly.

"Yes. Have Tali, Mordin, Kisame and Konan meet me down in the hangar." Shepard told the AI before turning to leave the cockpit. Grimly pacing towards the elevator. A few of the crew members gazing over at him as the Commander walked past them, some bearing scars from the crash.

Tali hadn't gone down yet, waiting for him by the elevator. He stepped in, gave her a small nod and had the contraption move down towards the hangar. The Quarian seemed nervous, but she did not voice her concerns.

"Scared, Tali?" he asked softly.

Her first thought seemed to have been along the lines of shaking her head, but thought better of it with a slow nod instead. "Y-yes. It's not our first time facing a Reaper. But this time's different."

"I know. We're fighting one much more directly this time around. But I think it'll just be the first one of many." Shepard whispered in response, half-turning towards Tali. "We ain't alone this time though. We go down, clear away the Collectors and then take down the Jubi alongside our friends and allies. Remember, Reapers are powerful, but they are not invincible."

"I know, Shepard. I'm with you all the way." Tali replied.. the Commander barely saw the faint smile she offered, concealed as it was by her visor.

"Thank you, Tali." Shepard offered a smile of his own when the door slid open to reveal the hangar. Those already there seemed to be at the end of a conversation close to the Kodiak.

"So you guys once had a tank named after a species of shark? Why was I never told?" Kisame mused in Shepard's general direction, whom inwardly shuddered as foul memories surfaced.

"Okay! Whoever had the gall to mention that thing again, will get a boot up his ass!" Shepard strongly announced as he gesture for everyone to get on board the Kodiak. And a couple of stories up, Joker felt a dark and painful chill run down his spine. The helmsman turned to the ships AI.

"Not a word, EDI. Not a word."

* * *

"Hey, wake up!" a feminine voice called out. He could feel two hands grabbing him tightly by his shoulders, and subsequently shook him, violently. His whole body hurt like hell, but that pain felt almost pleasant compared to the shaking motion. Almost like being tossed about like a rag doll.

'Wake up, look upon your failure!' another voice struck him like a bolt of lightning. Causing Naruto to sit up in a sudden motion, as if he had just been whipped. His eyes forced wide open.. accidentally headbutting Tenten along the way. Whom already ached all over from the fall herself.

The girl reeled away from the blow and fell to the ground, rubbing her sore forehead. "Hey, what the hell's with you?" she shouted at him.

"Ah..." he realized his mistake.. "S-sorry about that, I thought I heard..."

'Look up.' the voice spoke up again, with demanding force, causing the boy to gaze up at the skies. Seeing the massive black figure that stood above them, blocking out the light of the sun itself. It seemed to move away from them, although very slowly from their perspective. The ground shaking with every step. The machine directing it's attention towards the horizon, as if having discovered something of interest. Probably a target to clobber something fierce for all he knew.

Naruto clutched his head. "N-no." he whispered as pain once again seared through his thoughts as the reality of their current situation sank in.

"What should we do? I don't think our plans covered such a situation. We were supposed to take the Jubi away from the Collectors, not fight it."

"Don't know." he pressed, word for word as he tried to collect his thoughts, and then one of them began to nag away at him.. "... Where's Hinata?"

"At the tree over there, she's still unconscious." Tenten gestured at the other girl nearby. The Hyuga squirming uneasily, as if struggling with bad dreams. She sported a few wounds from the fall too, but it seemed that Tenten had tended to them rather well. Naruto could not really remember the long fall, but the only non-Jinchuriki of the three carried the chief effort of avoiding the worst. A massive number of broken branched in the surrounding trees testified to that. The boy directed his gaze down to the ground, seeing a massive net that had probably been summoned into place. He wanted to thank her, but pain forced him to focus on the matter at hand.

"I heard the voice rising up again..." Naruto told her with barely restrained concern. "Maybe she also..." his voice trailed off slowly, a guess on his part. He reasoned that despite being strong, the Husk that hit her could not have put that much force into the strike. He stood up and turned away from Tenten whom regarded him restlessly, finding it to be a small struggle in itself as he limped towards the comatose girl. He dropped himself to his knees right next to her. Gazing emptily down at Hinata before he carefully moved a hand to underneath her head, trying to offer a bit of comfort... Ignoring the Jubi as it continued to stomp into the distance, the majestic ten tails it sported waving through the air effortlessly above. Occasionally causing violent winds to wash across the landscape. The wind felt cold to his face.

Something struck against the monster, projectiles from far away impacted with it's body only to bounce off it's kinetic barrier. The Jubi did not even seem to _notice_ the attempted attack as it continued to move at a languid pace.

But the boy's attention remained on the comatose Hinata, staring down at her until a spike of pain bolted through him. 'Curse it.' he muttered inwardly as he felt his consciousness fall, and the presence within the darker recesses of his mind appeared to him, clear as day. And as he fell to the hard ground.. terror crawled into his heart.

Tenten however helplessly gaped at the others once Naruto also fell to the ground, out cold as if knocked down by an unseen force. And at the same moment, distant howls echoed across the surrounding area. The girl quickly scanned the environment, finding some of the local predatory wildlife moving into view, their attention focused on the newly arrived aliens.

She emitted a growl of her own in annoyance and brought up her scroll, summoning into her arms another Revenant. The one she used within the Jubi was lost amidst the earlier commotion prior to their landing.

"Aw, gimme a break already!" she cried out before aiming down her gun at the first beast that showed itself.

* * *

Confusion blasted through her thought. She stood in a room that resembled one of those back home in Konoha. Back from before the war that ended their world.

Hinata moved to the door before her, and pushed it open, entering the neighboring room. Which proved to be identical to the former one. She went to the door on the other side of the room and repeated the process. Another identical room.

Her pace increased significantly as she checked through several more rooms in a row before she paused, breathing heavy as if desperation began to grab hold of her. Not even her Byakugan could help her see through these walls for some reason. Once she mustered the courage, she moved to the door on the other side and tapped a finger at the door. Pushing it gently aside, the space beyond it seemed identical yet again until one difference made itself known in a burst of light. A table stood before her. Barely reaching to her knees. Upon it stood a black figurine. Shaped like a person with no prominent features but a toothy grin.

The girl reached down for it, clamping her palms down on it's sides. Gasping as the object felt very cold to the touch. But upon tightening the grip, her fingers slipped through it as though it was made of nothing but water.

Her thoughts grasped at the faint hope that this object would be crucial to ending this dream, she tried several times to grab it. But with each attempt, the figurine started to change shape. And by the time she made the seventh attempt, the object's general shape had turned into that of an elongated squid in appearance.

Hinata, confused about this development, knelt down to take a closer look, at which point the strange figure seemed to respond by shining as several lines of bright yellow light made themselves known before the figurine dissolved into nothing. Leaving the girl with naught but a sense of foreboding until the wall before her fell apart.. the ceiling vanishing as well. Solid matter turned into fog, and then vanished altogether. She gained a clear view to the sky, only for a massive version of the figurine to appear in the sky. A view followed by the appearance of one more. Then two, then five. Dozens, hundreds, thousands. Until they blackened the sky with their numbers.

All seemed to glare menacingly down at the girl, who's face turned pale in fright. With effort, she forced her stare away from the sight above, to find that the room had disappeared completely. Instead finding herself standing in the courtyard. One lone dying tree being it's only notable feature. A mere shadow of it's former self.

A presence made itself known, walking along the grass while barely disturbing it at all. The Hyuga turned to face whomever had come, only to see a person whom she remembered as having died months ago, during the war.. Her own father, Hiashi Hyuga. Whom sternly gazed back at her with an expression that carried equal measures of disgust and disappointment. She recognized it very well. Mirroring the times when she just couldn't measure up to her father's expectations at all. "Why...?" was all he asked.

She gazed back at him for what felt like hours, as if trying to reject what she saw. It's just the nasty presence within trying to throw her off, she could feel it even now. "Why...?" she managed to repeat, her voice shaking as her thoughts began to center around the meaning of the question. "Because enslaving the entire galaxy isn't the answer. A-and even if it was, it wouldn't make us feel any better."

The man growled in annoyance.. "And I thought we shaped your people better than that. Defeat means naught but your destruction. Victory must be attained no matter the cost. To the winds with everything else."

"... Yes, our history taught us that much. But even so, you could not rid us of our hearts." Hinata replied slowly.. "Even after all the past brutality, we still are able to judge what is right and wrong."

"And you see our grand design as wrong... how?" The fake-Hiashi asked, his facial mask tightening. She could feel his revulsion build up. The grass around his feet dying as if reacting to the anger of the being.

"You demanded that we take trillions of souls as nothing but slaves. To use them as a shield, to use them as mindless pawns to destroy the Void Demons. They are formidable foes, that I can believe. But that..." Hinata paused, placing a hand onto her chest as if weighing her words.. "... There's no justification for such an act! Y-you have been trying to force us down to the level of the common enemy of all!"

The being paused, gritting his teeth. It sounded like the grinding of opposing rocks. "No victory, without sacrifice."

"There must be something else, a better way! There are no point to destroying the Void Demons only to become like them." she protested just in time as the sound of nearby commotion arrived at her ears.

The nearby walls that lined the perimeter shattered with a decisive crack as something punched through it and crashed into the ground. It didn't elicit any reaction from the one whom posed as her father. The girl however whirled around and assumed her fighting stance immediately.. But the one lying in the small crater wasn't an enemy, but Naruto.

"H-Hinata.." the boy gasped as he struggled back to his feet.. His eyes clearly showing the fact that he's presently in Sage mode, she hadn't seen him using it for quite some time. "You're here as well?" he sounded confused. Rightly so. Them having a shared dream all of a sudden.

She could not prevent her own weak smile, as if relieved to not being alone in this nightmare. A thought tried to guide her to embrace him, if only to make sure. But that thought was interrupted by a familiar voice that reverberated with an echo that seemed to come from everywhere at once.

"You disappoint me, Naruto." another voice cried out. A loud and boisterous, but still very much carried some degree of distaste.

"Shut up! You won't trick me!" Naruto yelled at the being standing upon the wall before them, shaking his fist at him. "My old Sensei would never have desired for what you bastards want!"

Hinata gazed up at the person whom Naruto yelled at. And she felt her jaw drop slightly. Jiraiya stood before them. But the visage of the one who's supposed to be so kind and wise, was instead covered by dark malice. Sitting upon his shoulders she could see two shadowy shapes that held no resemblance to the Elder toads whom should be there instead to maintain his Sage mode. But it was nothing compared to the coldness in his eyes.

Naruto himself felt his rage boil. The creature that had assaulted his mind so much during the recent times since gazing into the contents of the tablets, dared to assume the image of his late Sensei. The boy could not hide his disgust the moment he overcame his previous state of fright.

"Your kind were on the cusp of creating a world where the demons of the world will be vanquished, and wars ended. Isn't that going against your promise?" the being asked.

"Not this way. Pervy Sage wished for a world where everyone could understand each other. Not one of bondage!" Naruto protested fiercely.

"Your good hearts made you weak." Hiashi spoke up at last.. "It's still possible to have the plan carried out, but first the Ten-tails must be disabled and brought back to the galactic core." Hiashi continued with a shrug.

Hinata glowered at the image of her father.."We won't allow that."

"Which is why we will finish breaking your minds now, to force you into obedience once and for all." the image of Jirayia told them. "With the power you two carry..." he dropped himself from the wall and down to the ground, and assumed his fighting stance. "... we can still bring the plan to fruition!"

The image of Hiashi turned colder. "It's your own fault, for thinking like fools, that there are other ways to defeat the Void Demons. But there are no other way, no other choice!"

"As if we're going to just stand here and take it!" Naruto yelled at them, refusing to be cowed by the threat.

Jiraiya smiled rather crudely.. "You have no choice in the matter, Naruto. Youngsters should obey the words of their elders after all."

Hinata turned and crouched very slightly, bringing up her palms as she assumed the combat stance of her clan. "We will forge our own path."  
She and Naruto stood back to back, their attention directed towards their opponents whom got ready to fight as well.

Only this time, their very souls are at stake.


	34. Chapter 34

"We've been hit!" Tali cried out in panic as the shuttle was struck down by enemy anti-air. They had just barely arrived above the city and they already got fired upon. All on board could feel the resulting turbulence and vertigo of the ship suddenly losing it's mass effect field, resulting in the shuttle helplessly tumbling down towards ground, the field continuously regained and lost, breaking the fall numerous times on the way. Only insane luck preventing the shuttle from becoming the "three-million-credit coffin" that the UT-47 Kodiak Drop shuttles had been notoriously known for in similar situations.

Shepard heard a sound reminiscent of metal being bent and ripped off as they crashed in high speed, a last second reestablishment of the field resulting in the craft briefly skidding against the paved ground before tumbling violently across the street, vertigo claiming him as he lost track of where he is. He lost contact with the floor, and could barely see the others.

And after what seemed like hours, he touched the ground, claiming a view of the Kodiak as it smashed itself through a building in the distance before he lost consciousness.

By the time he woke up, he found himself on a table within a store not far away from the crash site, Mordin standing close to him, staring him in the face. "Shepard. Condition good. No significant physical trauma... How many?" he raised his hand before the Commander's eyes, holding two fingers up.

"Two." Shepard responded before he pulled himself up into a sitting position, his attention drawn to their immediate surroundings. A rather antique store from the looks of it, though he could not tell what kind. The whole place had been turned into a mess. Tali sat not far away from him, swaying slightly while resting her head in one hand, almost as if trying to fight off a sensation of nausea. He also saw movements from the edge of his vision and turned to see a lightly wounded Turian Soldier standing near the exit, rifle at hand, as if expecting company.

"Your awake now, Human?" the Turian grumbled, momentarily peering over his shoulder at him.

The Commander frowned.. "Name's John Shepard, Citadel Spectre."

"I am well aware of who you are." was the response.. "I suppose you are here to help us make sense of this situation? All with that huge space station suddenly appearing in orbit along with all these bugs going about wreaking havoc?"

"They are called Collectors. As for how they got here... You wouldn't believe me even if I told you."

"Collectors? Aren't they just a myth?" the Turian asked.

"They are real... that the 'mythical' species are smashing the place up should be proof enough." Tali muttered, trying to recover from the recent trauma, but still swayed dangerously side to side, Mordin quickly moved to the Quarian to render some aid.

"More importantly, what's the current situation? I'm having the impression that things have changed drastically since we started moving in from orbit." Shepard told him.

"Tch. They tore my squad to pieces, and I were cut off from the main force. But them Collectors managed to claim a quarter of the city, I wager. Shit-tons of them landed all over the place after that Cruiser of theirs entered the atmosphere, taking up position close to the city, trying to take away our air and artillery support."

"What of the civilian population?"

"Most of them were safely relocated. Though some remained. Those attempted to contribute to the city's defense in the places now held by the Collectors. Of course, they have all been overrun by now."

Shepard nodded.. all Turians serve in the military at some point, and most families got small arms stored away in their homes, as well as instruction manuals for the production of fire bombs against vehicles. A recipe for disaster to many other species. "We got to move soon, the Collectors will be the least of our problems if the Jubi gets here before we manage to cut them down to size."

"Er, Jubi?" The Soldier muttered, confused by the term.

"To summarize, it's basically a Super-Dreadnought that landed earlier, heading towards this city as we speak." Tali told him.

"Oh, that. Heard about that, hard to believe, huh?" the Turian sounded slightly, if grimly, amused. Though it merely camouflaged his shock. Dreadnoughts landing on planets are practically unheard off, or at least, in the majority of the galaxy. The group before him didn't seem surprised by that notion, at all.

Shepard shrugged.. "Believe it or not, if I find anything that surprises me anymore. I'll be amazed. Though chances are... I'll end up eating those words sooner or later."

"In any case, we got about 9 minutes and 41 seconds left before the second wave will commence, if my superiors still maintain the established time table for the operation back in the briefing. We could hitch a ride with them on the way." the Turian whispered, checking his watch for a second.

"By the way..." Tali hesitated.. "Have anyone seen where Kisame and Konan went?"

Shepard paused, looking over the present area.. no sign of them. "I thought you knew!"

"I'm sorry, but you guys are the only ones I saw." The Soldier told him.

"Likely, they left just before we crashed." Mordin thought out loud.

"That.. how?"

Shepard shrugged.. "I would like to know why, but it's not like them Kalinin spends much efforts in telling us what they're about to do."

The Soldier's mandibles hanged for a moment.. "You.. brought some Kalinin, here?" he asked with an expression that carried equal amounts of terror and disbelief.

"Not much point in searching for them. Once they do something, I'm sure we'll notice."

* * *

"So, we are just going to wait here?" Kisame asked out of curiosity. Both he and Konan's current location being one of the pier's at the city's harbor. The area completely deserted, and the sea that spread out before them being still in contrast to the battles being waged far away from their position.

"If we stayed, we'd have little choice but to follow Shepard and help dealing with those Collectors. I'd say we wait until the Jubi shows up before dedicating ourselves further." Konan replied simply, folding origami in an idle manner with a sheet of paper, just one among many thousand they had found along the way in a storage container. A bird taking shape in her hand.

A grin formed on Kisame's face.. "Ah, so we just take time and rest for a bit, conserving our Chakra until it's time. And look here, a lot of water for me to use."

"Don't swallow anything though.." Konan whispered.. "It is for a reason that Turians and Quarians can't eat the food of other species. And vice versa."

"That, I'm well aware of!" the man protested with a low groan. "What about the Eye of the galaxy thing.. now that the Jubi are no longer in the core, what do you expect will happen?"

"Don't know. Either something happen, or nothing at all. It haven't been all that long. If whatever Madara and his gang deployed have reached the core and actually done something.. maybe we'll know within a few minutes, or several hours depending on how fast the effect spreads. Could be days before it reaches this planet." Konan replied, though making it clear that it was naught but a guess. The water below was disturbed ever so slightly within the next moment, both of them peering down at the surface. Neither said anything for several minutes.

"Jubi coming?" Kisame asked quietly.

"That was never a question to begin with. But it haven't arrived yet, or we would have felt it." Konan replied, annoyed.

The missing-nin frowned.. "No kidding.. it's Chakra are absolutely hideous, can't believe most of these people don't even notice it.. and in a way, I envy them for it."

"Indeed." the woman replied simply, their gaze directed at the view before them, waiting in a somewhat uncomfortable silence.

* * *

"Anything to report?" Legion asked as it continued to search through the computer network within the Jubi, an interface having conveniently been made by the Collectors to connect with the Super-Dreadnought's systems.

"Nothing. I really hate this silence." Jack responded, still keeping her Shotgun at the ready in case of further Husk attacks. No enemies had been found since arriving at the closest core. It seemed this machine possessed several of them. And shooting at the thing's a waste of time. Protected by a kinetic barrier from the looks of it. "Haven't you found anything yet?"

"Yes." It replied simply.. "The Collectors have attempted to activate this construct twice before. The first one was a catastrophic failure due to excessive amount of energy."

"How could that be a reason?" Jack growled.

"Energy classification according to Kalinin terminology; Chakra. Are you familiar with pulmonary edema?"

"What? No, why the hell should I be?"

The synthetic clicked once before responding.. "It's caused by fluid accumulation in the lungs. This case concerning this ship can be compared to it. In this matter however, the ship accumulated a much greater amount of Chakra than it have the capacity of containing. Lack of treatment towards pulmonary edema can lead to coma, and even death. Such was the case when the Makers' sealed it away centuries ago, according to these data banks."

"Naruto and Hinata did explain that the Jubi was stored away, specifically for the purpose of the Galactic eye plan shit."

"Yes. It was defeated, sealed away and set to produce and accumulate Chakra perpetually until the plan's completed. The effectively kept it in a death-like state because of it. At first activation, the Chakra levels overloaded the Jubi's cores. They attempted in bleeding it dry after that. But that too failed. The only real way to get rid of the excess Chakra being to spend it. Which the Kalinin succeeded in. And with the amount significantly lowered to more acceptable levels, the Reaper activated successfully."

"Fucking brilliant. How does that help us?" Jack argued.

"Though the reduction was required. It's still dependent on a certain amount of the energy to function to it's full capacity. At this time, it's Chakra reserves are at twenty-four percent of it's maximum acceptable capacity." Legion tapped into the interface furiously as it brought out more and more data. "And that is it's, using Human terminology; Achilles heel."

"So... deplete it's Chakra and it will deactivate?" Jack worded carefully.

Legion's eye-flaps formed the equivalence of a raised eyebrow. "Incorrect. Though it would weaken it ability to maintain it's cohesion significantly. There are ten cores spread throughout this Super-dreadnought, all deeply connected to both the technology from which Reapers are made, and the technology implemented by the Makers, according to the data in this system." the synthetic droned on, Jack began to let her mind wander from the topic as she continued her little sentinel duty, but Legion continued anyway.

"All the cores cooperate through an eleventh core located at the front of the ship, effectively within it's 'head' unit. Sufficiently diminishing it's Chakra reserves would disrupt the flow of information to the eleventh core, which is where the lack of cohesion will occur."

"Fuck, I fell off somewhere along the crap you just said. Does it say anything about how the hell we actually kill this thing?"

Legion tapped in a few commands further.. "No, at present. We do not possess the firepower to accomplish that.. however-" it paused as an error showed up on the display. Access seemed to have been blocked. The Synthetic attempted to force it's way into the system, but failed to reestablish contact.

"You will gain nothing more.." A voice blasted at them from the entirety of their surroundings... "Your fate is death."

"Alert! Threat level increasing.." Legion voiced loudly as several Husks stumbled into sight, groaning a challenge one after another.

"I can see that, flashlight-head!" Jack cried out back at it as she raised her weapon and unloaded a shell into the chest of the closest foe.

The two quickly began to shoot their way out the way they came, hurrying along to prevent themselves from getting themselves surrounded, ending up like that would surely mean the end. And so run they did. Managing to get to the room in which the transfer technique had been performed. The sheets of paper still attached to the wall. But then a trio of Collectors appeared from the surroundings to assist the Husks.

Jack and Legion together killed the closest one, but then the second one's carapace seemed to split open in an overly familiar manner.. "-assuming direct control!"

"Fuck it!" Jack screamed as she momentarily panicked, aligning her weapon towards the Harbinger. But it was too late to prevent it from initiating an attack, it's biotic assault kicking some of the weapons on the floor up in the air towards the Convict. One striking her her with sufficient speed to flip her over backwards forcefully enough for the backside of her head to hit the metallic floor, hard.

Legion saw this and fired a bullet at the Harbinger, severing it's left arm. The creature merely grunted "Pain is no hindrance." as it recovered from the blow to continue the attack. But the synthetic had hurried over to kneel down by the fallen Human to inspect the damage. Jack seemed to suffer from a severe concussion. She would not awaken anytime soon, worse, the female needed medical attention and fast!

Ignoring the Harbinger, the synthetic turned to fire two more rounds, one at the third Collector and a Husk which was poised to strike from nearby, before it turned back to scoop up the Human and leg it towards the exit, all while calculating their chances for a more favorable exiting conditions this time around.

* * *

OK, this wasn't going too well.

Naruto and the fake-Jiraiya had ended up high in the air as their trading of blows turned fiercer by the second. It felt like a tidal wave of blows that the boy could only barely parry and intercept before the fake kicked him in the gut and flipped forward, bringing his heel down on Naruto's head and blew him down towards the building below, smashing through several stories in the process before coming to a stop on the third floor and rolled away just in time for when the fake came down after him to crash into him knee-first, the wooden floor shattering into thousands of splinters from the blow.

Naruto and a shadow clone of his blazed through the resulting dust with a Rasengan ready, only for the fake to respond with a Rasengan of his own. The jutsu's clashed with terrifying force and a duel of wills took place, a contest in which the fake managed to overcome the boy, his jutsu growing faster than that of Naruto until it nearly filled the room before blowing the target through the wall and into the building next doors.

Naruto felt immediately grateful towards the sage training given by Fukasaku before the war. He could not make Kyubi mode work here for some reason. Without Sage mode, he would probably have gotten crushed already.

He grabbed hold of the couch he ended up on inside the building he had been sent into and threw it in front of him as the fake sent a fireball in after him, blocking the jutsu long enough for the boy to scramble out of the way. He directed a punch to the floor, blowing a hole through it and made another Shadow clone, had it jump down to run out into the street to perform as a decoy.

That done, Naruto charged for the roof and made two additional clones along the way to assist.

Naruto quickly made it to the roof and found his clone and the fake trading blows across the street. It would not last much longer. He opened a hand to the other clones of his... focusing a large surge of Chakra into the palm, the first clone applied shape transformation while the other provided nature transformation. A Rasen-Shuriken quickly forming in his hand. And as a final touch wrapped it up with Senjutsu Chakra to maintain it's shape, ran to the edge of the building, leaped off and threw the jutsu at the fake, who still seemed like he haven't noticed.

He saw it, the jutsu hit, expanded and swallowed several nearby buildings in a zone of destruction, lighting the sky, illuminating the numberless Void Demons above which merely peered down at him, in a manner that would be akin to him looking upon an insect on the ground.

Naruto felt certain that he had won, if it wasn't for the fact that he heard two 'poofs', not just one. A hideous feeling ran down his spine, causing him to look over his shoulder just in time to see a heel coming towards him, striking his neck and sent the boy crashing into the building, through the floor, his trajectory lightly changed by a table below, and through the wall.. rolling across the ground on the other side of the building.

The fake appeared before him shortly..

"You understand now? That you can not win? .. I know your every stratagem, and your every trick!" the fake-Jirayia gloated as the boy before him slowly got up. But did not give him any further time to recover as he planted a fist into Naruto's face and sent him crashing through the stone wall behind him, seemingly temporarily halting the fight between Hinata and the fake-Hiashi.

But her fight fared no better than his. The girl bled in several places and generally looked very much beaten, barely able to remain in her stance. The courtyard had all the indications of a fierce and desperate struggle, numerous walls had been destroyed, and holes are spread across the ground and floors. The solitary tree had been torn down. The fake-Hiashi carried numerous bruises from intense bursts of needle-thin Chakra from Hinata's empty palm thrusts. Numerous Rotations performed. But Hinata could barely stand anymore.

How could this be...? Naruto thought inwardly as the fake-Hiashi threw Hinata to the ground, next to him. The girl trembling weakly next to him. The fake approached and Naruto tried to stand up to defend both himself and Hinata only for the fake-Jirayia to send Naruto to the ground.

"You're beaten, now all we need are to displace your minds and take over." the fake-Hiashi growled as he stepped towards Hinata, whom attempted to back away from him.

'What, did you forget?' a voice filled the air, making the fakes halt dead in their tracks. Both Hinata and Naruto gazed at the sky, curious about who was speaking. It sounded oddly familiar.

The sky suddenly turned red, and a massive pressure descended upon all present. It felt as though the air had turned into the consistency of blood. It felt so deeply foul, and yet, strangely reassuring.

* * *

Tenten finished killing the whole pack that tried to assail her and her still unconscious friends. Why there are Varren in the wilderness of Palaven is anyone's guess.

She straightened her blouse a little, a part of it had been ripped off when the last Varren of the pack had tried to pounce her form behind... the left side of her waist was exposed, a little deeper and the Varren might had succeeded in bringing her down, and would have had the luxury of lining it's belly with the three Shinobi. Luckily, the beast's bite had been too shallow, allowing the Kunoichi to distance herself from the animal and gunned it down.

A sigh escaped her lips as the seal attached to the gun fell off.. the heat sinks within utterly spent. She opened the scroll reserved for her guns to switch the current weapon for another with a seal still rich with heat sinks.

That was when a pressure fell upon her, and made the girl gaze up at the sky. She could not see what caused it, but a fair guess being that the effect of the Galaxy's eye being the cause of it. Possibly having spent all the Chakra and everything else left behind in the vicinity of where the Collector base used to be. But without the Jubi, it did not have the necessary fuel with which to fuel it for perpetuity.

She expected that it would dissipate soon.

But Tenten did not consider the consequences as the effect washed across the entirety of the galaxy. It's entire galactic civilization temporarily fell completely silent as all people of all races gazed up emptily at the sky, as what seemed like the eye of an angry god glared down at them. And no one's beyond the eye's reach.

The galaxy quickly went through a moment of utter calm.

* * *

Madara felt the pressure, but felt a sense of loss. Something had gone wrong, terribly wrong. He realized that just as his right eye went blind from having used Izanagi to spark the Galactic eye into existence.

The Citadel fleet had gone completely adrift as it's crews came under the effect of the eye.

But something still felt wrong. Why did he feel so uneasy?

"My lord, wake up!" he could hear Tayuya cry out and turned to see the girl crouching down next to Kabuto's suddenly comatose form. What was that all about? The girl prodded him, gently trying to wake him up. Obviously distraught.

"I don't like this. At all." Zetsu offered his thought.

Was this the feeling? He placed his mask back on and leaped back to the control deck, landing lightly. "Neither do I. The plan have possibly failed on us, and it cost me one of my eyes!" Madara growled as he wandered over and kicked Kabuto on the side in anger.

"P-please sir!" Tayuya begged for him to avoid doing that.

"Should we consider abandoning the station?" Zetsu asked.

The Uchiha huffed in a gruff manner.. "Yes. I have no interest to stay here at gunpoint if the plan did indeed fail." he turned to Zetsu.. "Have everyone gathered in one place, we'll go to their flagship. All at once. I just need to do one thing before we go."

Zetsu gave a brief nod as he gestured for Shino and Darui to come on over. Madara dropped himself to the bottom level and went to have the Statue of the Outer Path removed from the station in a puff of smoke before he returned to the others. "Ready to go?" Madara slowly asked. Not even waiting for an answer before he warped everyone and himself away. Moving the whole group to the Destiny Ascension.

* * *

"I came here to see what's going on with the others, and I see this? This wasn't the plan." the voice spoke with a nasty sneer which Naruto instantly recognized. Feeling his anger rise to the surface as if from an automated response. He stared at the being whom stood atop the wall on the other side of the courtyard, which the fakes noticed as well.

Orochimaru.

The fake-Hiashi hissed a response.. "The Galactic eye plan have failed because of their actions. As such we have to resort to taking direct control!"

The fake-Orochimaru hissed with an even deeper voice in response.. "And what? Fall catatonic at first hint of damage? We attempted cloning in the past, and transferring our minds into said clones to save our race from extinction! But it failed, in case you fail to remember. For reasons we could not explain, the minds that volunteered for the first transfer attempts easily succumbed to a permanent state of catatonia within the first case of physical or mental trauma."

Both fake-Hiashi and fake-Jiraiya stood at a loss of words.. "We have no choice but to risk it! This case might be different!" the latter cried out after recovering his composure.

"And what if it does not work and cripple those bodies as a result? You remove all hope of ever seeing the Void Demons defeated."

"B-but still..!" the fake-Hiashi tried to protest.

"Hah, don't you idiots understand?" the fake-Orochimaru spoke.. "It's time for a change of plans."

"What change? We have no time for that!" the fake-Jirayia turned to walk towards Naruto, until a snake's jaw snapped shut on the man's shoulder. "W-what the-?"

The fake-Orochimaru retracted the snake and pulled the fellow Maker off the ground and through the air in a wide arc, and then lengthened the snake as Jirayia fell more distant, trying to protest. "Seems I will have to beat some sense into you guys..." the Maker whom posed as Orochimaru hummed as he through sheer momentum of the swing slammed fake-Jirayia through the entire row of buildings on the other side of the street and let go of him after the last house. Just in time to lean away once fake-Hiashi attempted a palm strike, only for fake-Orochimaru to grab him by his collar and threw him to the ground below. ".. Just like I often had to do in the past. If only you were as reasonable as our engineering compatriot that passed away so long ago."

The teens, still on the ground, stared at the spectacle in total confusion as the Maker remnants began to fight amongst themselves. And what a battle.. They watched in astonishment as the village began to crumble around them from the sheer ferocity of the combatants involved. Even the Void Demon-filled skies seemed to tremble above the battlefield.

Naruto could faintly discern a Rashomon gate rising in the distance and nearly became pulverized as something struck it. Immediately followed by a tidal wave of snakes that burst forward and carpeted the area as the fighting intensified even further. However, the boy was more busy trying to get back up, he really got beat up by that Jirayia pretender. Luckily his Sage mode did much to protect him, or else he would truly have been in deep shit. Hinata breathed more heavily as she diverted her Chakra to heal herself, her hands glowing gently green as she directed the jutsu against her chest and throat, her breathing normalizing slowly.

Meanwhile, the battle seemed to have come to an end upon the emergence of what was, unknown to both of the teens, Orochimaru's most powerful technique; the Yamata no Jutsu. Having inhabited the mind of Kabuto, the third Maker had full knowledge of Orochimaru's true power. Whereas the knowledge the other ones used were rather incomplete. The eight-headed serpent towered over the ruins of the village, and slowly it ventured towards the Jinchuriki's location before the middle head was lowered towards them, from which the fake-Orochimaru emerged, also dragging along his now greatly weakened kin.

"Heh, I must apologize. You must have had a hard time dealing with them. They are loyal to our mission, and ingenious. However, they are inflexible and stubborn." the being began.

It felt really weird to be apologized to by someone whom chose the visage of one of the most hated criminals in recent history. The Shinobi said nothing.

The Maker seemed to guess as much as he chuckled.. "The window is closing. We are able to interact like this when certain conditions are met. But this is the first, and the last time we can talk like this. It's time for this little dream-scape to vanish. And for these two, to sleep." the fake-Orochimaru placed a palm on each of his compatriots, the shape of their beings slowly fading, and shaped them into small orbs that resembled soap-bubbles.

The next move was unexpected. The being stepped forward and pressed these orbs against each their respective host's chest, into which the orbs vanished.

Both of the Shinobi glanced down in surprise, the whole thing happened so fast that neither could react.

"Worry not. They will not interfere with your minds anymore. As I said, time to change our plan. This way, they can be extracted safely when the time comes."

"E-extracted?" Hinata dared a question.

The sky began to clear, the Maker glanced upwards. "Yes. You must be ready and willing to let them be extracted from you in the future." he told them, turning away to walk back to the eight-headed snake still looming over them. "Every little contribution helps if the galaxy are to be rid of the Void Demons for eternity. And ours just might tip the scales."

"No pressure, I guess." Naruto muttered.

The fake-Orochimaru gave a shrug before vanishing into the snake.. "It's time for you to rejoin the battle alongside your comrades. As for me, I'll remove this place. Farewell."

The snake heads turned to the sky and joined together, a massive amount of energy gathering between them before being launched into the sky. And the moment it did.. the sky and the images of the Void Demons displayed above vanished.. the dream scape quickly erased as the flash of light enveloped all of it.

The teens fell into the nothingness that was left behind. Slowly closing their eyes alongside each other. The dream ending, letting reality reclaim them as they once again looked upon the skies of Palaven, with Tenten appearing next to them. She asked them a question filled with concern, but they could not hear her voice at the moment as they slowly climbed back to their feet... enjoying the new found peace within their minds. They could not hear the Makers' invasive voices anymore.

With that, Naruto gazed at the distant horizon. Hinata's Byakugan wasn't needed at all to see the gigantic Jubi that continued to stomp towards the city. Almost there. "Let's go, guys. Our jobs aren't nearly half-done yet."

The others nodded promptly. They did not have any more time to waste.

* * *

Nagato walked up along the outside of the station, staring at the area before him. Strange. He never took any liberties to look around while standing under such an unobstructed view to the stars. "The shuttle's over there, just beyond that ridge." he directed the others, pointing our the general location in which they needed to go.

"If not for all this shit happening, I'd go straight for a nap once we get back on the ship." Hidan replied in a sullen manner.

"Then go and take a nap, it's not like we're in any position to help right now.." Kurotsuchi argued at her mate.

Nagato let them move on ahead, instead simply staying put as he gazed at the view above. It looked strangely beautiful between the nearly glowing planet that filled a part of his vision, and many great lights that told him clearly that the orbital battle's still ongoing, and the stars beyond.

But one part of the view pulled the man's attention. A familiar-looking Cruiser approached the station, heading towards the hangar below. The Karakorum. Why was it moving in to dock with a space station which defense value decreased to nothing in the wake of being transported into Palaven's orbit. Perhaps that's why.. But regardless, it meant that Cerberus are up to no good yet again.

He maintained his gaze on the cruiser for a while before he decided that for all the strangeness of this behavior. It did present an opportunity. Since it did not look like Cerberus cared much for assisting in this battle. Meaning, that the temporary alliance are now completely void.

Nagato turned his gaze to the others and apologized wordlessly for what he's about to do. And with that, he let himself detach from the wall, and with some doing, began to float down towards the Karakorum, which had begun to enter the hangar.

It was going to be close.

The man grumbled as he continued to descend, and touched down on the ship's hull... momentarily slipping his way across it until he could finally firmly attach himself. Steadying himself, he began to crawl across the hull of the ship. Feeling as it slowed down further, a motion which was followed by an airlock opening to allow several Cerberus Commando's into the base... a few stopping to marvel at the remains of the devastation that occurred earlier before continuing their assigned mission.

Nagato himself however did not pursue. Instead, he moved to the airlock and began to move in. It would not take much effort to infiltrate the place, he formed the necessary hand signs before heading too far in, coming out into the open of the Karakorum's hangar in the guise of one of those whom had gone out on whatever mission that needed doing. Nagato relieved that they sported helmets that obscured the face. It did not take him long to encounter someone.

"Hey, what are you still doing here? Get on the mission already!" a nearby taskmaster spoke in irritation.

"Sorry, having equipment failure. Need to head upstairs and have the suit checked out." Nagato coughed the answer.

"Got the Commander's permission?"

"Huh, yeah. Of course."

The other shrugged.. "Fine, go on."

Nagato gave a nod before proceeding to the elevator, hearing along the way that George had left the ship with the Commando's to investigate the base in person. Convenient.

He found the elevator filled with people at the moment. So Nagato waited for a brief while for everyone to leave along the way up. Until only one remained. Choosing to risk it, he wrapped his arm around the technician and tightened the hold until he fell unconscious from lack of air, dropped the body and headed the rest of the way up to George's quarters.

As a security precaution, Nagato chose that moment to perform the transformation technique again to turn into George. To avoid rousing suspicion. The Shinobi watched the door slide open, and pulled with him the technician, storing him away into the bathroom before turning to the computer within the main room.

It looked fairly well decorated.. his eyes lingering on a set of moving pictures on the shelf before turning back to the computer within the room. Overall, he isn't all that proficient with those machines, but enough to navigate. A simple and practical interface made navigation relatively easy. But he wondered where to check. Nagato ended up trying to use the search function, trying different words, but came up with nothing. "Hrm.." he narrowed his eyes and tried to write in the name the galaxy had largely assigned to his species. He typed in 'Kalinin' slowly and pressed enter, waiting expectantly for a few seconds before a link popped up in the results.

Zeus Project. Sounded promising.

Nagato moved the cursor to the link and tried to enter. A groan escaped his throat as the computer suddenly demanded a password. It required fifty digits. Not good.

His eyes drifted to the messenger function and started it up. A list of addresses popped up, though most appeared to be protected, and requiring further passwords. Only a few stood open. The Normandy being one of the contacts.

Not carrying a whole lot of choice, he sent a message containing a small request for aid. A plea answered by Joker, whom reacted incredulously to his actions. But did not seem to begrudge him for committing such a reckless act. He also wrote that he could not help with the issue, and neither could EDI, still carrying blocks that prevents her from disclosing information about Cerberus and it's actions. But offered to try and contact the others. An offer that Nagato greatly appreciated.

It took a fair few minutes of waiting for an answer, and had been getting more worried. The more time he spent waiting, the greater chance of being discovered. Maybe George returning, or someone noticing that their leader currently being at two locations simultaneously. Changing looks would not help in this immediate location. He slowly exhaled as he calmed himself. He was over-thinking the situation.

A message finally came, and Nagato quickly read through it. To his surprise, it was Legion who sent it. The synthetic announced that it had connected to the Karakorum already, by using the Normandy as a relay, and gone through everything of relevance already the time it took to write the message. Nagato did not even notice it had happened.

It wasn't like he's about to like the Geth. But he certainly began to appreciate Legion.. it had provided him with what he needed to know. The location of the place that Cerberus was using to restore dead members of his race back to life. The man smiled and pushed away from the computer, closing down everything before he turned to leave. It was time to leave.

He went into the elevator and let the elevator carry him downwards. But it stopped right around the command deck. The door slid open and revealed a full fire team aiming their weapons at him. George himself standing in the very middle of the formation that had been waiting for him. "Well well, got ourselves an infiltrator, it seems. You thought our technicians wouldn't notice the intrusion?"

Nagato blinked, he still remained in the guise of the Commander standing before him. But he calmly responded despite the threat he's facing. "Regardless, I've gotten what I needed. That is all."

"You really think we'll just let you go?" George smirked.

Nagato's guise vanished in a small puff of smoke. "I see no reason why not. If you just let me go, no one would have to get hurt."

The man's eyes widened in shock while the Commando's tightened their grips on their weapons. "Wha-, you?" the man paused as he tried to form words. Seeing an infiltrator was surprise enough, but for it to be one of the Kalinin? "You were searching for the location of the Zeus station, didn't you?" he clenched his teeth.. "Weapons free!"

But the Commando's did not get time to pull the triggers before the Karakorum suddenly shuddered violently as something came down upon it. The lights within winked on and off as the sound of metal tearing reached the ears of those present before the cockpit suddenly vanished from sight, torn away like wet paper, followed by more of the bridge as the Human-Reaper appeared before them. A booming voice heralding it's arrival amidst the cries of many members of the ships crew that attempted to get away from the monstrosity as it tore into the Karakorum nearly effortlessly, crushing and killing it's crew left and right. Everyone that carried weapons attempted to fight it back, but were summarily crushed.

"N-no!" George cried out as he turned to flee, only to stare at Nagato, whom merely gazed at him, his arm lifted high.. pointing his empty palm at George, and by extension the metallic larva behind him.

"Never thought I would see this thing again. But this is the last time." Nagato calmly observed before his eyes narrowed, his face twisted into a mask of raw concentration.. "Shinra Tensei, full power!"

If sound could be heard in space, a deafening cacophony of noises could have been heard as Nagato struck with all the power he could manage. Massive gravitic forces blasting through the base, nearly punching a hole throughout the station. Enough to flatten a village and wipe it off the map. The entire base twisting mildly as it's superstructure ached from the blow it had so suddenly been dealt, hundreds of secondary explosions ripping through it. All while the Karakorum, or what's left of it, crashed into the deck below.

Nagato sank to his knees, his breathing rough and hard. He spent nearly all of his remaining Chakra into this latest attack, nearly squeezing every cell of his body to the brink. His contact with the floor was lost.. neither the ship nor the station could maintain artificial gravity any longer, letting the man drift upwards until he 'landed' on the ceiling and with some effort, began to limp back towards the shuttle.

To prepare for the taking of his species' greatest hope for it's continued survival.


	35. Chapter 35

Here it is. Chapter 35.

It took quite a long time, yes. But I've been going through my story. Correcting all the grammar mistakes and misspellings I could find, as well as rewriting more than just a few lines. A few additions can be found as well. Have been much more thorough than last time, all to make it easier on the eyes.

Hope you like the results. And my thanks to the people who recently reviewed, it helped big time. Now, without any further ado, hope you continue to enjoy the story.

* * *

"Okay, tell me again. And this time, slowly." Onoki rumbled as he rubbed his temples. Hidan and Kurotsuchi had finally gotten back, dragging along an unconscious Nagato. Why did it feel like he had gone and done something reckless? Did he have something to do with the Collector base sudden collapsing?

"Aw come on, ya old fart!" Hidan hissed at him as he and his mate pulled the unconscious man deeper into the ship, towards it's rather poorly equipped med-bay. "He went away one minute while we went to the shuttle, and the idiot disappeared. Only to return after the whole place went under along with the Karakorum."

"Then he fainted. And we got stuck carrying him back." Kurotsuchi continued for him.

"Pulling..." Hidan insisted. "Back there, we carried him. Here, hell no."

"Ah, shut up." the woman replied with a shrug.

Onoki could barely keep up with the pace of the youngsters on foot and eventually decided to hover instead, quickly catching up to them. "You should have kept an eye on him."

"What the hell for?" Hidan shook his head as he helped hauling Nagato onto one of the beds within the med-bay, the one closest to the door. "He can take care of himself just fine. Don't need me to babysit him."

Onoki sighed in a gruff manner.. "That's what I expected you to do. But no, you're an idiot. What in the world did my granddaughter see in you?"

"I am standing right here, grandpa!" the woman uttered in annoyance. "As for why I like him.."

The old man grumbled to himself about the brashness of youth.

"Shit, just listen!" Hidan hissed at him.

A slow muttering could dimly be heard.

"It was a poor choice to begin with, you loving a guy like him." the old man continued.

Hidan barely kept himself from shouting at him.. "What was that!"

"Just... shut up... you guys." Nagato's voice could finally be heard. "My ears... are ringing."

Onoki went to hover next to Nagato's bed, looking down at him. "How are you holding up, lad?" he offered the question, a chill still remaining in his tone.

"Not... well." Nagato coughed. "Think I exerted more effort than I thought I could afford."

"That you did, whatever the hell happened down there." Onoki sighed.

"What I did to end up in this state... I don't need to describe. Other than the result... that is."

"What are you talking about?"

"I found out about the location of Cerberus' secret base. The one they use to pull our kind from death's door."

Kurotsuchi was about to say something when Onoki hushed her down. "You're certain?"

"Yes." Nagato replied firmly... "We can go and take that place right away, once we're done here."

The old man fell silent as he landed into a chair not far away, reclining himself against it. Unable to find the words that matched his thoughts.

"Where is it. Where's that base located?" Shikamaru asked through the intercom, having eavesdropped on their conversation. Sounding just as stunned as the rest of them.

"Armstrong cluster. The rest of the coordinates are just a set of numbers, I'll provide the coordinates later." Nagato answered quietly. "If you can, notify the others. Every one of them will want to know... " his voice lowered into a whisper as the man fell asleep from exhaustion.

* * *

An aircraft crashed nearby as Shepard and his team left the confines of a Turian APC as the current wave of natives arrived at the front lines to drive away the Collectors that are occupying sections of the city. His eyes on the crashed Fighter craft as the Collectors shot it down before kicking a door open in the partially demolished building they just arrived at, shooting a Husk's head off as it reared it's ugly head at him just past the entrance. The others following closely while hundreds of heavily armed Turians moved around outside, huge numbers of infantry along with armored vehicles moving into position.

Shepard and the others moved through the corridors of the building, shooting down anything that attempted to challenge them on the way. The forces in this location had ended up head-first against a heavily fortified barricade, and he moved up to help thinning the enemy ranks from up high. Several Turian snipers and soldiers followed them in, but moving up to different floors. Shooting could be heard everywhere as Husks kept appearing.

He looked over his shoulder as Tali leaned out of a window and shot once at an unseen target below, leaning back when a heavy amount of gunfire gruffly answered her greetings. "We need to go a little further!" she called out.

"There's a large hole up ahead, we go there, take cover and kill as many of those bastards as possible before their heavies deploy against us. After that happens, we relocate and repeat." Shepard called out the plan quickly before beckoning for the rest to follow him in.

The 'hole' was nothing but what remained of the part of the building razed earlier by artillery. The team quickly positioned themselves behind the most available cover, finding themselves overlooking the barricade down on the street where a massive number of Collectors stood firing at the Turians trying to break through the position.

Shepard hefted his grenade launcher and launched a trio of grenades into the gathering of enemies below. He watched as the grenades hit and detonated, killing more than a dozen of the Collectors. Striking confusion into the insects as a greater number started looking for whatever ambushed them. Only for an additional grenade to fall down, followed by a rain of bullets as Mordin and Tali alongside the Turians whom managed to get into position by the windows in several places opened fire. Even more of the aliens perishing as they attempted to retaliate.

This pressure allowed the Turians in the street to rush the enemy position even as a number of Praetorians hovered into sight, taking aim and striking back at the onrushing Turians while the rest started to work down the ones taking pot shots from the building, forcing many to relocate, including Shepard's team. "Go on, move move move!" The Commander hollered as they hurried out of the line of fire. He took one last glimpse over the current area as one of the Praetorians was taken down by a single shot coming from a Turian tank that rumbled into sight to assist the infantry.

"Shepard. Down there." Mordin called out, pointing down towards the street, where a team of Turians moved in through the alley in an attempt to flank the Collectors holding the neighboring street. Several of which saw the aliens coming and tried to slaughter them while they still remained in that narrow space before they could get clear.

Shepard rushed to the window and took aim alongside the others while the Collectors down below opened fire. The lead Turian howled a response as he gunned down the closest Collector to his location before reaching out to the sides as the rain of bullets impacted with his barriers. Howling in defiance as his shield broke, allowing the bullets to impact his own body. Those behind him making haste as they detonated a large hole into the side of the building and rushed in while he held the line. He managed to hold his position for three full seconds, flashing a vague smile of triumph as the excessive damage to his body claimed his life. Successfully protecting his comrades whom all managed to find some cover and fiercely responded to avenge their friend's death.

Several of the insect aliens fell as from the resulting crossfire, both from the Turians before them and those up in the building. Shepard blowing away the rest with a well-placed grenade.

Shepard paused, his gaze directed towards the corpse of the soldier whom bravely protected his squad in such a manner. Letting himself marvel at such bravery before the sounds of continued battle drew him back.

"We need to keep going, let's get down there." Shepard told the others firmly. Both Tali and Mordin nodding as all three turned and hurried to the stairs, gunning down every Husk that attempted to intercept them.

Once they started moving down, they found a lone Turian near the bottom, trying desperately to fight off a Scion. Firing a shotgun at it point-blank. But the synthetic merely blasted it with a biotic shock-wave, smashing the alien into a messy pulp. Shepard immediately fired a grenade at the monstrosity and watched as the resulting explosion vaporized the organic bag on it's shoulder. Along with it's left arm. But the Scion tried to rush towards Shepard until Mordin froze the right leg and remaining arm with a cryo blast and shattered them with a couple of well-placed bullets.

They advanced down the rest of the flight after having killed the Scion. Followed soon by a number of Collectors moving in to attack them. Tali without hesitation shot the closest one in the head, the others firing as well in unison even as a score of bullets impacted their kinetic barriers.

An explosion interrupted the exchange however as fire billowed into the hallway and destroyed the aliens before them. With no other enemy in the vicinity, they left the building, finding that the assistance had come from a Tank just forty feet from their position. It's turret swiveled to face another enemy position before a Praetorian hovered into sight and set down on top of the Tank, forcing it's hatch open before firing down into the vehicle's interior, killing the crew within even as a number of infantry attempted to force the synthetic away from the vehicle, only to see their bullets bounce off it's barrier.

It turned it's attention towards them and worked to kill the soldiers in turn until several Fighters rushed past their position overhead, one of them hit by a yellow beam, the wing torn off by that one prolonged shot, causing the aircraft to spin as it fell off course, crashed through a nearby building below and ended it's trip by smashing itself against the Tank and the Praetorian. The resulting explosion claiming all three of them.

It all happened so fast that Shepard couldn't do anything about it. Instead, he was forced to grit his teeth and give the order to move on. Best do what they can before the Jubi arrives. It's only a matter of time.

A distant metallic roar only confirmed the inevitability of the Super-dreadnought's arrival.

* * *

"How in the world do you miss something like that? Why are you still here anyway? Ain't the civilians supposed to be out by now?" Kisame asked.

The Turian before them shook his head.. "I'm a tourist guide. I'll leave as soon as I find those in my care."

"They haven't left yet?" Konan asked, certainly surprised. "What kind of people stay here in such a time?"

"Retired vets. A bunch of Hanar who devoted all their time to the military, and still looking for their last great moment of glory." the Turian coughed the answer. "One of the reasons that they chose this place for a vacation. Museums filled with military history. This city's rife with it, for your information."

Kisame's facial expression became rather stiff, still having foul memories of the Hanar he was trapped talking to back at the Citadel. A whole crowd of them possibly being nearby did little to ease his mind.

Konan's attention was drawn elsewhere as the ground shook. It was becoming rougher by the minute, she thought it to be an earthquake at first as the Jubi wasn't anywhere in sight. But this... She decided to leave the ground.. her legs turning into an array of paper that propelled her up in the air. Much to the Turian guide's surprise.

"Er, you should probably go and look somewhere else. We are kind of in the middle of something." Kisame waved the guide away.

The alien nodded reluctantly. "Alright, call me on this number if you see a bunch of Hanar." he told Kisame before giving him the a note with the number. "Farewell, and good luck." before he hurried to leave, pulling a gun from his holster as he left. Probably having armed himself once the invasion began.

"Kisame... the Jubi's at the outskirts of the city. Over there!" Konan hollered, pointing towards the north. She didn't think it would take a different route to the city. Watching the massive black shape work it's way into the city, crushing buildings underfoot and toppling skyscrapers as it went. A terrible roar could be heard, leveling whole building blocks in it's immediate vicinity. It's overwhelming presence competing with that of the Collector Cruiser still hovering over the city, swatting the Fighters that attempted to bring it down out of the sky, one by one.

"Got it, just give me a minute." Kisame responded as he gazed down at his Samehada, which twitched as it worked the Chakra it absorbed from the Jubi back at the base. The weapon fusing with his body. The man eased his cloak down to his waist to avoid tearing it to pieces as his body changed to resemble that of a shark. Releasing a wave of water to surround him as the transformation completed. The water he summoned acting as the core as he jumped into the nearby lake and submerged himself.

Konan turned her attention downwards for a few moments before she coughed, regurgitating a long scroll while the water below moved. The entire lake pulling itself onto land with Kisame in the center of it all. Washing across the buildings and nearby streets as the shark moved inland. "Konan?"

"What...?" the woman above asked as she unfurled the scroll.

"I found the tourists." Kisame replied with raw terror tainting his voice as he looked upon the dozens of Hanar swimming all around him. Child-like laughter could be heard through the water as the aliens moved around the Shinobi with incredible swiftness.

Konan sighed.. "Just keep moving and maybe they'll leave." she told him.. "Just engage the Jubi and try to force it into coming here. The trap will be ready by then."

"Gotcha.." Kisame grumbled as he moved on.. the massive hemisphere of water moving in the monster's general direction.

* * *

New plan. New plan.

That's what Kabuto said as he woke up earlier. And somehow managed to plan for it in his sleep apparently, alongside the strange voice he kept mentioning. Zetsu couldn't help but think of Orochimaru, gross guy. But always with a plan ready... unless the more unexpected things happened.

Kabuto and Madara entered a fiery debate about the whole issue, while the rest could only watch the intense exchange of words. Zetsu knew that after the latest failure, Madara wouldn't simply roll over and accept the plans of the upstart unless provided with every assurance that it will work. But eventually they agreed to a compromise. That if this fails, Kabuto will follow whatever plan Madara manages to cook up.

And that's what got them to this point. Standing in one of the Destiny Ascension's mess halls, Overlooking the several hundred crew members that he and the others successfully captured over these last few hours. His parasite clones surrounding the captives while Tayuya sat in the far corner after she got back... with the Edo Tensei folks Kaidan and Saren alongside Shino and Darui carrying additional captives to add to their collection.

"These are the last ones in this section of the ship." Tayuya shouted.

"Alright!" Zetsu called out as he quickly went over the captives, counting the number of hostages. A large group of marines, technicians and other personnel. Once he finished counting, he turned to the COM system that they managed to find and move into the mess hall.

Kabuto and Madara sat in the other corner, watching the subordinate do his job as he opened a link to the rest of the ship. A general broadcast.

Here goes. He coughed.

"Helloooo!" he called out in a jovial tone. Positive that most of the crew members within the ship probably jumped at such an outburst. "I'm the representative of our group and talking to you on the behalf of my esteemed leaders. I have to inform you that we currently have about 461 of your fellow crew members serving as our hostages." he continued with the very same tone.. "I must advise everyone who might be willing to try saving these poor lost sheep, to avoid doing so. I assure you, the hostages could die if you make an attempt, and you will be sharing their fate, and add to the tally. We'll know if you try it, just like this brave soul."

He looked over his shoulder as he paused for effect after having noticed the erratic sounds of insects coming from the ventilation shaft in the roof, a scream could also be heard. The roof burst open and a Salarian fell into view, covered by Seeker insects, courtesy of Shino. The Aburame moved around to grab the Salarian by the neck and tossed him in to join the group of captives, his weapons taken away by the insects before they left the room through the hole in the ceiling.

"462." Zetsu corrected with a shrug.. "So, don't get any bright ideas." the man leaned slightly closer to the display. "We only ask for one thing in exchange for their safe return." another pause.. "Our leaders wish to have an audience with the Citadel Council. Nothing more, nothing less. You know who you are! They want to offer you a deal. One that you will find hard to refuse, I assure you."

He pushed himself away from the display and turned towards the captives.. "We'll give the Council one hour to contact us. Fail, and we'll kill the hostages, move to another section and repeat the process."

Zetsu turned back, "One hour." he added in for emphasis before ending the broadcast.

"Now, we only need to wait." Kabuto whispered with a smile, feeling quite certain that the council would respond shortly. Sure they could have all gone to where the Council's located, but for the plan to succeed, they must at least engage them in a conversation on terms at least remotely comfortable to the aliens.

* * *

And so the fight continue.

As for the offers that Kabuto and his ilk will offer, it's just the first step of a greater plan. One of them include something which will lead to something which have occurred in canon during the events between ME2 and ME3. Just with a different catalyst. As for what that is? You'll see next time.

The Jinchuriki will enter the battle for the city in the next chapter to assist their comrades. Their wrath will be great. Though the Jubi ain't about to give in without a fight.


	36. Chapter 36

Minutes had gone by since the broadcast, and the Council did quickly contact them.. telling that they are willing to hold a formal meeting, but asking that the Kalinin release at least half of their prisoners before the talks.

And with reports coming in from the neighboring sections, hostages slowly came marching out. Exactly half the number. Sufficed to say, the Asari Councilor did feel that the intruders, regardless of their criminal background and the previous plan that could have taken control of the whole galaxy, a taste of which they suffered just a short while ago, She still found the faith to believe them to be somewhat trustworthy. The Salarian appeared to be interested despite himself, while their Turian colleague did seem intrigued, especially concerning the 'offers' referred to by the Kalinin's representative.

Anderson himself didn't feel so sure. He decided that he would listen to what they have to say at the very least. Refusing could be dangerous, considering that at least one of them seem to have the ability to actually move between ships without any form of difficulty, and without the need of ships. What could stop that person from coming up at them directly, should they refuse?

They waited, sitting on each their respective chairs, facing the COM system specifically located in the part of the ship which normally house the Council when undertaking journeys with the Citadel fleet. The lighting darkened, bar a lamp that shined down on each of the four within the room. Waiting patiently until the system before them flickered, a pair of holograms appearing before them.

One of them who's face seemed as though it's covered with scales, his eyes slitted like that of a snake. Dressed in a long cloak that covered his whole body except his face, and a bizarre snake sticking out from the bottom of the cloak, as if acting as some form of a tail. The other one was dressed in an even more obscure manner. Only one of his eyes visible, which shined deep red, with three distinctive tomoes surrounding the iris'. A disconcerting sight. If his colleagues felt disturbed by the sight, they gave no sign of it.

"I offer you our humble greetings. I am Yakushi Kabuto." the snake-like one greeted, bowing slightly. His voice even enough, polite even. "And this is my colleague; Uchiha Madara."

"Spare us your pleasantries, Kalinin." the Turian Councilor told him with a stern voice. "You wanted to speak with us.. get to the point!"

Kabuto's smile didn't falter at all, taking a step forward.. "You must understand, that despite what we were trying to accomplish, we merely did so because we didn't see any other way to defeat the force that threatens all life in this galaxy." A smooth talker.

"You mean, the Reapers?" Anderson found himself asking, much to his Turian colleague's chagrin.

"Exactly. Though our kind refers to them as Void Demons. We can call them Reapers for your convenience." Kabuto responded plainly, waving a hand. "The Makers believed that only a truly unified galaxy can stand against them. However as their master plan have officially failed, we have to seek other ways, and that is why we stand before you now."

"Reapers. Total nonsense." the Turian hissed.. "Yet another bunch of people who have somehow learned about the lies Saren put forth, and further propagated by Shepard, and taken it to themselves as truth."

"Anyway.." Kabuto brushed him aside in a casual manner.. "We've been enlightened by recent events that we've been going about this in the wrong way. And now we seek to make things right by offering our services to ensure the security of Citadel space, if you can grant us amnesty in return."

The Council stared at him for a few moments, letting silence drown the chamber for a short while. "You have endangered the entire galaxy with your past schemes. What is it that you can offer that can somehow make up for what you've done?" the Asari Councilor asked slowly, regarding Kabuto strictly.

"For my first offer, check the hangar on the port side of this ship." he responded, much to their confusion. A request was made for teams of soldiers to move into the designated hangar to check. A report soon received, accompanied by a large image that appeared before the Council within moments, all shocked by the sight that awaited them. The place was dominated by the visage of a large grotesque chained statue with multiple eyes, only two of them open.

"What is this... what is the meaning of this?" the Turian asked, quite perturbed as he stared at the image.

"This, is the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path." Madara informed him.. "We have used it in the past many times. To power the station among other things." he referred to the one they used recently. "But most relevant to you, is that it can be used to store away Tailed Beasts."

That did kindle some interest. "And how many does it hold now... ?" Anderson asked.

"Two of them are sealed up within it." Madara responded. "They cannot escape from it. Their only way out is if we extract them."

The members of the Council shifted slightly, as if pondering, their Turian colleague seemed interested. Anderson took that as a bad omen. "What of the other offers you mentioned?"

Kabuto smiled as he moved to respond.. "Yes. We can bring great benefit to your armies. In the form of Chakra armor. I used Cerberus to try creating some. They tried to create such armor as well before I even came into the picture. But most of what they managed to produce have been proven to be failures. I can offer fully capable special armor that will allow your forces to deploy the powers of our species. Imagine, being able to perform physical feats far beyond the norm of your species. The primal forces of nature practically at your fingertips." Kabuto didn't say that the abilities of such armor would be fairly basic compared to what a Shinobi can do, and he was fully willing to make sure that would be the case.

"Third. We can offer you all the knowledge, and technology of the Makers. Can you imagine what benefits, and safety it can grant Citadel space? To command a strike force only loyal to the Citadel fleet, that can traverse the entire length of the galaxy without even once needing to pass through a Mass relay?" he primarily pointed towards the Maker within his mind, which holds such knowledge. Though he still needed the Maker minds locked away inside the younger members of Nagato's group.

"Fourth and final. We can offer you the location of a large number of Cerberus facilities, including front companies supporting them." Kabuto sneered, smiling broadly at the wide-eyed Council members. All surprised beyond words. "You'll be able to cripple Cerberus with a single massive surprise attack!"

He paused as he took a step back and watched the aliens, he had not yet revealed to them about Saren and Kaidan. Believing it best to reveal to the Council about them later, at a better time.

With that Madara stood forward, regarding the Council. "We'll give you some time to think it through. Though I seriously don't think there's much to consider at all. Try to capture us, and you get nothing." neither he nor Kabuto told anything about how they would be able to turn it all to their advantage once the time comes. But until that time arrives, they would 'serve' the Council. And deep down, he enjoyed the irony of the situation, that would come to pass if the Council agrees.

The holograms faded, leaving the Council to digest the information given, and to discuss about their next course of action. And at the same time, reports started coming in about ongoing battle on Palaven.

* * *

The massive hemisphere of water moved across the settlement, the Turian forces hurrying out of the way instead of trying to resist. Shepard probably advised them to. Even though the Shinobi remained on the wanted lists, the Human with his status as a Spectre did mobilize some pull.

The Collectors however tried to resist his advance, only to end up inside the water, where the Hanar waited for them. The sight of the jellyfish aliens slaughtering the insects being pulled in, did not help his apparent rising phobia towards Hanar in general.

The Shinobi did his best to ignore it and continued to move in the direction of the Jubi in the distance. He could feel the Samehada scratching in his thoughts in excitement at the prospect of acquiring even more of the massive Super-Dreadnought's malevolent Chakra, it did not share the view of it's master about how disgusting that energy felt like upon their minds and bodies.

However, he did not move directly at the machine, after all he needed to take it where Konan's trap will be. So he lazily moved the hemisphere around the back of the massive monster which hardly even acknowledged his presence. Mostly occupying it's attention with nearby native forces trying to bring it down with heavy ground-based weapons deployed by Tanks and heavy Artillery. But neither could make it past the machine's kinetic barrier. The Jubi shrugged the damage off as it simply stepped on the organics and their toy vehicles on the ground as casually as some kid stepping on bugs for the sake of fun.

"Damn, that thing's huge." he whispered to himself, able to see the Jubi now in it's entirety instead of being obscured by shadows. An incredibly physically imposing monster that dwarfed everything around it.

How he wished for the rest to come over. But the Samehada brought some good news on that front, revealing about the presence of a growing Chakra signature a short distance outside the city.

He picked up his pace as the sheer amount of firepower coming from the Turians increased, refusing to let themselves be intimidated by the massive machine. Firing from multiple positions across the city with the hopes of at least weakening it's barriers for when the fleet finish off the enemy forces in orbit.

Kisame looked up, the visage of the Collector base visible beyond the sky, it's orbit having started to decay after something crippled it. That could be trouble if that thing impacts with this world's surface. The Turian fleet most likely will be devoting themselves to breaking the base into smaller pieces before moving on to the real monster.

He directed his attention back to the Jubi, ignoring the Collector Cruiser that dominated the skies above the city. Roaring as he charged, the whole hemisphere charging alongside him, increasing the water pressure up front, massive tendrils shooting from it as if to envelop the Jubi as he moved onward to ram the thing. The water practically shaking as the Hanar crowd together with him practically 'howled' battle cries.

A tiny thought lurched into the depth of his mind, as he detected some odd red light from the very edge of his vision.

What _is_ that?

* * *

Harbinger watched as the battle continued from up high. It's puppet managed to leave the broken station with the last shuttle, it's position relatively close to the Cruiser in the area.

The Super-Dreadnought, despite what seemed to be energy shortages in parts of it's system, it performed remarkably well.

However, the other ground forces had begun to falter. The natives were taking back the city far sooner than expected. Mostly by deploying an overwhelming, but well disciplined force. Despite the inconvenience of the current situation, it provided the benefits of testing the Super-Dreadnought. But it needed more time to conduct the tests.

It directed it's attention to all the Fighter crafts in the sky, most of which appeared to be returning to their bases. With a quick scan, it located the base from which most of these forces have been launched from. Those aircraft are barely anything more than a nuisance, but it saw the chance of getting rid of the vast majority of opposing air forces in this scenario.

It transferred the information to the Super-Dreadnought and requested for it to deploy one of it's Magnetic Hydrodynamic weaponry. The newest addition to their ranks sport one such weapon for every claw in it's front legs and in all of it's tails. The only problem seemed to be, the Super-Dreadnought reported that those weapon's are currently locked. Unusable at present.

Instead, the many cores within the ship began to harmonize to a greater degree than before. All extracting a great amount of energy from it's second power source. Focusing it in front of the ship's 'face'.

Coordinates for the base had been given, beginning weapons test. With that, Harbinger simply observed.

* * *

The final Collector within sight fell under a focused barrage of bullets, uttering something akin to a gasp as it collapsed on the ruined ground. It's closest opponents sounding relieved as calm descended on the area.

"That's the last one..." Tali whispered as she sat down on the collapsed ruin behind her. The whole place had been razed during the fighting. The Quarian gazing down on her weapon as it cooled down. Looking back up as the area was suddenly bathed in red light.

Shepard looked in the direction of the Jubi. On it's face, a humongous singular eye opened up. A memory of the eye possessed by the man he met back on the Migrant fleet flashed before his eyes. But this one sported nine tomoes, all spread out across three layers with three tomoes each. All orbiting the eye's iris. The tomoes began to spin around the iris, and increased in speed as a dot of energy punctured the air in front of the eye. A tiny dot that quickly grew in size to rival the size of the eye itself. Growing within moments to a size that rivaled it's head.

"That can't be good.." he mouthed.. watching as it turned towards the east. Another memory played through his mind, that of the time back on the Citadel when the Destiny Ascension was hit by a Chakra projectile. But this... this is much bigger than that!

The Jubi reared it's head back, about to fire.

"Get into cover, now!" he could hear a familiar voice call out from behind him.

The air seemed as though it exploded when the Super-Dreadnought launched it's attack. The scenery turned pure white. But strangely enough, he couldn't hear anything.. or it's just so unbelievably loud that it went full circle back to silence.

Those in orbit seemed to have a much better image of what went on down on the surface. The Bijudama launched by the Jubi vaporized thousands of buildings nearly in an instant along with all life within the range of the blast.. but that wasn't the end. The blast continued past the city, streaked through one of the refugee camps located along the way, flattened mountains, turned lakes into barren wastelands and utterly destroyed the base which the blast was aimed at, and finally simply "bounced" off the planet's surface, ending it's journey by slamming itself into the surface of Palaven's moon.. a massive crater left behind once the dust cleared away.

The sheer devastation horrified those manning the fleets in orbit to such an extent that they paused for a minute before the sense of reality sank back into their minds, forcing them to go about demolishing the Collector base before it enters the atmosphere.

However, many did react with rage once the initial terror faded, hastening their work so that they could rain their vengeance upon the monster that caused it all.

Shepard found himself on the ground alongside Mordin and Tali.. still unaware of the sheer destruction caused by the Jubi in that instant. But he wasn't all that far away from where he stood. The pressure wave should have blown him away and everyone else away...

"Just in time.." Naruto whispered with relief.. the massive Futon: Rasengan he formed to slice the pressure wave apart dissipating from his hand. "That was close.."

"Naruto?" Tali whispered as she got back on her feet, momentarily distracted as the two shadow clones he also used went poof. "What was that?"

"I can't believe the amount of destruction that Bijudama did." the Shinobi coughed, hinting towards the devastation. He hadn't seen the destruction himself, but being in his Sage mode, he could sense the blast... and how far it went. "How the old Sage defeated that thing... I'll never know.. maybe he had an off-button handy."

"Now is not the time!" Mordin interjected.. watching as the Collector Cruiser moved it's particle beams through several Turian positions across the city, to cripple the native forces thoroughly while they tried to regroup after the struck dealt to them.

However, it stopped abruptly when the front of the ship suddenly exploded.

"We're... working on that." Naruto told him... leaping away onto a nearby building.. "Call for a retreat! Konan's at the harbor!" he vanished out of sight before the Commander could even ask.

* * *

How cruel, Hinata thought to herself. Looking upon the ruined city, and all the dead scattered around it. She tried to avoid from causing further death as she lumbered forward, breaking more buildings apart on the way, it couldn't be helped.

Before entering, she called on more Chakra from the Sanbi than she does in most times. Bringing about a full transformation as she moved in with the terrifying full-sized visage of the Sanbi surrounding her. The girl positioning herself to the left, close to it's equivalent of a shoulder. A little trick she learned from Killer Bee back when he was still alive.

The Hyuga focused her attention for starters fully on the Cruiser hovering above the city.. She quickly formed a Bijudama and launched it at the ship, scoring a perfect hit and destroyed it's primary weapon. Leaving a massive gaping wound in it's hull.

It only took a few minutes before the natives decided to use that sudden weakness to their advantage. Several newly arrived wings of Fighters darted past the Sanbi, towards the Collector Cruiser and launched all of their ordnance directly into the exposed section, causing even further damage to it, which sent it reeling.

A swarm of Praetorians intercepted some of the incoming fire. A few even managing to latch onto the passing aircraft, trying to tear them down from the sky.

From there, Hinata performed the finishing blow. The synthetics didn't stand a chance as her next shot tore clean through the ship... it's crippled husk tilting backwards and crashed into the ground with an almost exaggerated slowness.

With that, she turned her attention to the Jubi itself, seeing Kisame at work trying to force the monster into moving after recovering from the pressure wave earlier. The machine growling in irritation as it attempted to rid itself of the persistent organic.

Hinata chose to assist initially by launching another projectile at it's head.. causing the machine to stagger away from the blow. She quickly had the Sanbi dart in under the Jubi and forced more Chakra into the cloak and forced it into getting bigger. She and Kisame now working on wrestling the machine across the city. Not always successful, but they had little choice in the matter. At the very least, it appeared to be confused for some reason. It's movements are becoming more clumsy by the minute.

* * *

It didn't take all that much urging to make the Turians start retreating. He managed to link up with their remaining Commanders and convinced them that falling back are currently their best option.

Not much point sacrificing their lives for a city that have been turned into a heap of scrap. Let the monster be fought by monsters, in a manner of speaking. In addition to clearing the area for bombardment.

Once that was done. Shepard moved to the harbor, hoping to indeed find Konan there.

Shepard thought for a moment that the lake looked a bit artificial to the eye. "Shepard.." he could hear Konan utter above.

"Shepard Commander." another voice called out. Mordin quickened his pace towards Legion.. who pointed him towards the wounded Jack it placed down on the ground after arriving here. "What happened?"

"We attempted to extract information from the Old machine. But we came under attack by Husks, Krogan variety. Jack was damaged during the fight." it specified quickly.

"What did you find?" Mordin asked, tearing his attention off Jack for no more than a moment before a groan from the wounded Human pulled him back.

"That can wait. Now, driving that thing away is all we can do." Konan shouted, flying far above them, watching the fight, which edged in closer to their location by the minute. "They will draw the Jubi to the lake, and then we'll strike."

"The lake, but why...?" Tali asked, kicking a pebble by accident, watching it fall towards the 'water', but bounced off the surface as if it's solid. Her gaze lingering for a moment.

"Simultaneous large-scale attacks. This... will be my contribution to it." Konan explained, gesturing to the whole lake while landing, discarding an emptied scroll to the ground. Simply watching as Shepard moved to the edge and peered down.

And he slowly seemed to realize.. as he eventually turned towards Konan. "How many tags are there?"

Everyone ducked as several nearby buildings were shattered, the ground shaking without pause as the combatants seemed to be on the final approach. "Explosive tags.." an explosion interrupting them.. "Let's get clear." she hollered, waving for them to follow her to what she deemed to be a safe distance.

"Konan... how many?" Shepard pressed.. letting his team go first, Legion hefting Jack onto it's back as it hurried along.

"Just about six hundred billion." she responded simply while moving away.

The Human slowly looked over his shoulder at the ocean while the fight raged on nearly on top of their position, the light of day repeatedly blocked as the giants swirled about. Staring at the lake blankly with disbelief. "Alright... consider my mind officially blown." he whispered before following the rest. Sparing a glance upwards as the Collector base had finally been broken into a greater number of smaller pieces, an action followed by several great explosions that made for a show of light that for a split second tried to compete with the sun itself.

Just a matter of time before the fleet would open fire on the Jubi itself. And with that, he pressed on at a greater speed. Best not to be here when that happens.

* * *

A gigantic mass of water detonated, pushing the Jubi even further towards the harbor. Kisame managing a grin at the success of the shark missile. The enemy's ability to retaliate seemed dead-shot, making increasingly clumsy attempts at fending the smaller targets off.

It staggered even more as fire started to rain from the sky, mass accelerators struck the back of the Super-Dreadnought with mighty thunderclaps, but barely even fazed it, but a few hits against it's head did cause it to move away even further. It's ten tails waving around, pointed at the sky as it repeatedly tried to fire the weapons mounted in the appendages. But to no avail, the weapons remained locked, or the fleet in orbit would have been in a world of pain. It had the target solution of ten of the opposing ships, one shot apiece, but couldn't do anything to actually shoot them down.

Hinata continued to press the Jubi by continuing to ram it's limbs, continually causing it to stumble away as it tried to build up some distance. Attacks were also coming from less visible opponents, at which the Jubi tried to destroy by generally toppling buildings in the direction from which the attacks originated, but with little success, and the more visible opponents didn't give it any time to be analytical or thorough about it. Continuing to harass it at every turn.

It didn't help that one of them somehow sapped more of it's energy.

It became more a question about time before it started wading into the lake. It didn't even need to be informed to realize that the 'water' began to rise as unnaturally massive waves of solid fabric began to roll against it, coiling around it's body, except the back which the fleet above primarily aimed at.

Konan and the rest had retreated to a building which still stood, overlooking the fight just a kilometer away. The woman had activated the technique, every single explosive tag of the lake could be seen covering the Jubi, clinging to it's Chakra-based shield that added as an additional layer of defense.

"Alright, all at once!" she shouted as the barrage from above temporarily ceased before renewing itself.

All around, multiple attacks were forming.

Hinata created another Bijudama, this time as strong as she could force it to be made.

The hemisphere deployed by Kisame's Water prison Shark Dance Jutsu opening up as if to form massive jaws as the Shinobi within thrust his palms forward after forming the necessary hand signs, his Super shark bomb on the verge of being launched.

Naruto appeared at the roof of a nearby building with two shadow clones, creating a massive Rasen-shuriken greater than the width of the building.

Tenten appeared with him, unfurled a scroll and extracted from it the six M-920 Cain she took from Cerberus before the attack on the Collector base, the weapons suspended in the air by Chakra threads as she primed the weapons, which rightly so carried the nickname of "Nuke Launcher."

All ready, they all launched their attacks on the Jubi simultaneously. Konan detonating all of the explosive tags at the moment of impact.

The results were... spectacular. Not remotely to the extent of the Jubi's Bijudama, but the enormous Ten-tails vanished in an explosion of pure white, and the detonation, thunderous as it became, shook the entire city, or what's left of it.

The battle seemed to pause for a moment. Everyone just watched. And when the light faded away, they also saw it again. All of them were prepared for the fact that this attack wouldn't produce the results they all wished for in the depths of their hearts. But it made no less a shock that followed.

The Jubi survived the assault. Emerging from the devastation with barely any damage. It stood still for a moment before it moved, but this time, it acted in a more erratic manner. The tomoes in it's eyes twitching uncontrollably as it tried to focus. An attempt to lash out was made, only for it to fall down to the ground.

"Cohesion lost.." Legion observed. The lack of Chakra resulted in the cores no longer able to harmonize, unable to exchange data in an organized manner, causing immense instability.

This chaotic behavior continued until all the tomoes collapsed into the iris.. the machine standing slowly back up as a booming voice echoed from it.. "- Assuming direct control."

Harbinger.

It did not seem to make a whole lot of difference as it wrestled to forcefully control the confused Jubi. Except that it scanned the city as if looking for someone. "Human..." it muttered.. the voice could be heard all across the settlement and beyond. Obviously addressing Shepard, who was the one that brought about these recent events with his past actions.

"You've changed... nothing!" it continued as arcs of lightning struck the ground around and underneath it, scorching the surface as it slowly began to take off. The Turian fleet continued to fire, but did not deter the Reaper in the slightest.

"Your species has the attention of those infinitely your greater!" the machine slowly turned to the skies, preparing to leave.. "That which you know as Reapers... are your salvation through destruction!" It vanished into the skies... "You... have... changed... nothing!"

The Jubi quickly left Palaven's atmosphere and broke through the blockade, the opposition relentlessly trying to take it down. But the Super-Dreadnought simply blasted itself through the formations.. Mass effect fields forming around it before it vanished into the darkness of space.

With that, this costly battle finally ended.

* * *

A couple of hours later, they were about ready to leave. Hinata chose for them to linger a little longer to assist with injuries. With her techniques, she could save some of the wounded soldiers she could find. The sky was now filled with dark clouds, it was raining. As if the skies wept.

She wandered alongside Naruto into the depths of the ruins. It was deathly silent. A lot of dead could be found. All enemy forces gone. All dead. Every single Collector and synthetic. The corpse of the Collector Cruiser visible in the horizon.

"... We got to go now, Hinata. We still got things to do." Naruto quietly told the Hyuga.

Hinata didn't answer, momentarily losing herself in memories of the war back on their home world. Looking down at the body of an alien that had been burned to the point that they couldn't even identify it's species.

The boy didn't push. Simply letting the seconds draw by, and the rain fall. Thunder echoing far off in the distance.

A sound of bent metal could suddenly be heard. Catching both of their attention. "Over there.." Naruto pointed out towards the plaza up ahead.

And thereto, they ran. But they didn't expect to see this.. a ruined Collector aircraft of some sort. The scratching noises could be heard coming from it. With that they advanced carefully, and pushed what resembled a door away. The insides thoroughly wrecked. Until a quartet of eyes were revealed to them.

The two of them jumped away as the large figure of the Collector General emerged from the dark and immediately collapsed onto the ground. It's heavily wounded body barely able to carry itself. It tried to get up, but only managed to fall backwards, and crashed against the hull of it's shuttle.

It didn't try again... only looking up and letting the rain drops fall on it's face. A low gurgle could be heard from it, as if relieved. It was first then that both the teens noticed that unlike earlier... it's eyes had stopped glowing.

It was unexpected. Such a tranquil moment between them and the leader of the Collectors, which eyes lowered to gaze at the couple. It looked at them for what seemed like minutes. It tilted it's head slightly to the side, and raised a claw towards them, as if reaching out.

Hinata found herself taking a step forward and reached out to the claw in response. She didn't know why she did it. She simply did. The girl reached out and grabbed the claw, while staying out of stabbing distance.

But the creature did no such thing. All it did was to shake her hands with barely noticeable motions. She blinked softly before forcing a smile.. "You're welcome."

With that, the claw fell limp. The Collector General sagged slightly to the side as it quietly died. Hinata only let go after Naruto embraced her, and let her own tears fall. In the end, the Collectors were just tools for the Reapers, a tortured form of life. By destroying them, they saved them from their suffering.

They did the right thing, but the necessity of killing them in order to save them... weighted heavily on her heart. Naruto said nothing, he merely tightened the embrace.

…

…

…

"Naruto! Hinata! Where are … you?" they could dimly hear in the rain as Tenten arrived, approaching their position. "There you are... we need to go now. The Council is on it's way. We got to leave before the Citadel fleet arrives."

The boy tried to work up a reason to argue, but he understood that they needed to get going. "Hinata... we got to go." he whispered as he lightly pulled..

"Yes... I'm coming.." she softly responded, gazing at the corpse of the Collector General for a further few seconds before turning to leave. Regretting that nothing more could be done.

It took about twenty minutes to arrive while moving at high speed. The shuttle of the Lance of the Six Paths standing before them. Konan and Kisame standing close to it while conversing with Shepard. Kisame grinning nervously as the crowd of nearby Hanar waved their farewells to him before leaving with their guide, who managed to survive the recent events.

"You can't be serious.." they could hear Konan mutter.

"I don't like it either. Once the paperwork's are done, Kabuto and his ilk will be working under the Citadel council. Assigned to labs on some far-off planet with a large budget to support their upcoming projects." Shepard sighed.. "I don't trust those guys at all, neither does Anderson. The Council only decided it, on the grounds of it being a necessary evil after seeing the power of the Jubi. They don't believe in the Reapers now anymore than they did before, but they acknowledge the threat posed by the Jubi, and wants to acquire the means to effectively fight it by any means necessary."

"That means we will all pay for their mistakes eventually." Kisame shrugged.

"At the very least the Council will form a heavy guard force to keep an eye on them. But that's about it."

"No use crying about it for now then... we'll cross that bridge when we get to it." Konan responded with a degree of finality.. "For the time being, we need to hurry and join the rest. We can't stay here anymore."

"Can you tell me where you're going?"

"No can do. The less people that knows, the better." Konan refused.. "We want to have the element of surprise on this one."

"Alright. How will I know where to find you?" Shepard asked. The card he got earlier was nearly burned out. It's Chakra exhausted.

"Don't worry about that. We'll find you." she then turned to the rest and ushered them onto the shuttle before boarding it. The craft slowly pulling itself off the surface and bolted towards the sky. Leaving Shepard to tend to the rest before he and his crew would leave as well.

Minutes later, the Lance of the Six Paths left the system behind. No local forces moved in to stop them. Simply let them leave.

* * *

The alarms blared throughout the station. The warnings popped up all over the base; Containment breach.

Bachtein hurried behind cover as the door to the room had almost given away to the efforts put into forcing it open. He had barely escaped from the room he was locked into in the wake of the Illusive man's return. Kept around since he was mostly under control of Madara, and thus was decided to be a test subject to find out how the mind-control was maintained.

He managed to surprise the guard as he brought him out to be tested again, took the gun and ran.

His escape took him to the labs while a few of the station guards followed him. Three Kalinin had been revived, the only thing remaining was to place control chips to make them subservient to Cerberus. He wouldn't let that happen, not in a million years! Not even if he died during his attempt.

He had managed it. Freeing the revived ones from their restraints before the surgery could be committed to insert the chips. The three of them, two men and one girl now raging through the station with terrifying force. All guards and mechs were scrambled to deal with them.

The man managed to smile despite the gun wound in his abdomen, they got him alright. The door broke open and his grip on his pistol tightened even more, jumping out of cover. The Cerberus guards opened fire once he did, forcing him back into cover before he could even fire a shot. He's just a scientist in the end after all.

One of them suddenly screamed... the body flying across the room and struck the wall close to his position.

"Damn it, their here!"

"Fire, fire!"

Several gunshots could be heard, accompanied by several other rampaging signs of violence. The shooting ceased within moments. And with that, the man managed to dare himself out into the open. Certain that the recently released Kalinin had just arrived by coincidence. Clutching his wound while doing so.

He gazed at them for a moment. A young girl, a young man at least ten years her senior.. and an older but seriously strong-looking man. They all stared back at him, probably deciding whether or not he's a threat.

He found that he didn't care for what they think about him. As the man continued to look at them, he felt very much at peace.

* * *

And so the battle concluded. Was my intention from the start to have the Jubi survive the encounter. However, it's been a learning experience for all involved. One huge toy to chew and sharpen their teeth on. And they will in the future consider turning a few more into Jinchuriki to increase their battle-strength.

As for Kabuto and his ilk. It certainly is an ironic situation. Backed by the government while the "good" group have to stay underground. Got an idea on how to make Madara's more devilish qualities show. Kabuto and Orochimaru just always struck me as better planners for some reason. As for how their evil scheme beneath their so-called benevolent offers will work out. It will have to wait for the time being until more is found out how the events in ME3 will play out.

Konan's going to be out of the battles for the time being, having had her supply of paper truly thinned out.

As for which characters have been revived. I'll let you know next chapter. One of them's a big time fan-favorite. (No, not Sasuke.) And another of them chosen simply because of an image I saw in a dream, it was so hilarious that I woke up from laughing. Exactly what it is... you'll just have to wait to find out. :)


	37. Chapter 37

"You said, what?" The Illusive man uttered with obvious disappointment in his tone as he leaned towards the holographic projection of Koliat, the head researcher of the Zeus Project.

Koliat swallowed nervously, "Yes. Bachtein escaped and freed three newly revived Kalinin before we could place the control chips. Since then, they managed to take over the labs and are currently holed up in there. We are trying to subdue them while they continue to try understanding their current situation, but it's not easy."

"Then you should know that it's perfectly acceptable to kill them. We can always repair their bodies later." the Illusive man answered sternly. Despite Kabuto and the others' scheme having been averted just a few days ago, he deeply frowned upon the news that the Collector base had been destroyed during the fighting. Regrettable. He hadn't heard a word from George either, who was supposed to extract information from the base during the fighting while possible... "How long since it started?"

Koliat noticeably hesitated.. "It's been going on for a few days now, sir."

He brought his palms to his face out of disgust at how the situation could have gone on for that long. "And you thought only about telling me about this now?"

"W-we thought that we could handle it..."

"Forget about it.. now, clean it up right away and resume the project! I want no further delay, the Jubi got away and the Reapers are now possibly on the way as we speak! We need our army now as soon as possible!" the Illusive man continued, hammering out his next words.. "Succeed, or suffer the consequences!"

"A-aye sir, yes sir!" the Head researcher managed to utter before the connection was severed between them.

With that out of the way, the Illusive man leaned back on his chair and turned to watch the sun-filled decoration on the wall while in deep thought.

So much to do, and for all that is known, they may not have any time at all. Some loose ends have to be dealt with first.

* * *

Zeus station stood as one of Cerberus' most secret facilities. A space station hidden in the blackness of space between star systems, and located within a sector belonging to the Systems Alliance.

After all, who would think such a facility would be located practically in their backyard?

And if some did find it, they would simply be informed of it being either the property of Binary Helix Corporation, or a remote Systems Alliance outpost recently put in place to observe the sector for any Geth activity depending on those making the inquiry. If they doubted that, unfortunate "accidents" would occur.

Few would question the cover story though, after all, most people in the galaxy wouldn't think that such a large and well-equipped facility could possibly be owned by Cerberus, a "mere" network of terrorists.

Until the project within started, it did not warrant extensive protection. After, it did. Most of which were pulled away when the Illusive man needed to build the fleet needed to attack the Collectors, a fleet which has since become history. Leaving the station to be protected by no more than a pair of Frigates which lazily moved practically in orbit around it.

But that protection suddenly diminished as one of the Frigates came apart, showering the space around it with a rainbow of shattered metal, and the ghostly blur from the ship's ruined mass effect core.

The second Frigate burst into motion as a Hensa class Cruiser jumped in, a few mere seconds before the first ship was destroyed. It couldn't possibly outgun the Cruiser, so it moved at high speed, to circle around it while harassing it with Guardian laser fire. A challenge which the larger enemy gladly obliged to, resulting in a brief heavy exchange.

It lasted for a few intensive minutes until the Cruiser finally managed to cripple the Frigate and finished it off with a well-placed mass accelerator round before proceeding towards the station in question.

The station's crew did not have any reason to be happy about their situation, it being difficult enough as it is.

* * *

"The defenses outside the station have been done away with. Ready for boarding action?" Konan asked, looking over at the teens where they all stood within the hangar.. having donned the necessary gear needed for their "jump" onto the station.

"We're all go!" Shikamaru called back, adjusting his headset... "Just get the ship into position and we'll take care of the rest."

The woman looked them over, all of the youngsters had been mobilized for this mission and wished that she could go with them. But she and the others have other objectives needing to be done. The teens' job remained simple though, to eliminate the defenders inside the space station. They needed to capture it relatively intact.

The hangar door opened as the ship moved past the target destination's own hangar, which was closed as they approached.

"Mission go! Naruto, jump in first, open the way for us." Shikamaru ordered. Naruto gave a curt nod before he leaped out of the hangar. The rest following suit.

Naruto did exactly what he was needed to do, summoning a shadow clone along the way, formed a great Rasengan and slammed the sphere into the opposing hangar, grinding a hole through it.

He lost his momentum from the blow though.. Tenten and Hinata threw a rope to him, focused their Chakra under their feet to adhere to the surface of the station's exterior and pulled him in once he managed to catch it.

"We need smoke and covering fire." Shikamaru noted them as bullets started to rain through the breach.

Hinata hurried to the hole and primed a few smoke bombs while Tenten summoned her Gun array, or what remains of it. She hovered the guns before the openings and answered enemy fire, forcing the guards inside into cover. Hinata threw in the smoke bombs, giving them a precious smoke screen as the teens quickly entered, and spread out.

The Humans fought back in confusion as they lost sight of the hole and the enemy. But the fact that their fighting Kalinin remained extraordinarily clear to them. The smoke was unusually dense, and concealed the presence of those within to the point that infrared sensors proved less than useful, so they fired blindly rather than letting the aliens get in close. But their movements stopped cold, they couldn't move, nor could they fire even if they wanted to.

It's as though their bodies moved on their own, discarding their weapons to the floor. And from the distance, a voice could be heard.. "Caught the targets, move in!"

The guards could only cry out in fear at their sudden powerless state as a trio of Kalinin emerged from the smoke, charging straight towards the Humans. And within less than a minute, the last of the guards collapsed to the deck. The hangar now in the hands of the aliens.

Shikamaru emerged after his shadows pulled back and moved to the local control interface and opened the hangar door as well as the exit. Breaking the console right after so that neither could be closed again.

Naruto walked towards the closest door, blinking at the dozen red dots on the wall nearby. The dots seemed to twitch, so Naruto created a clone to move in before he would. A movement followed by a thunderous barrage of weapons fire hammering into the wall, the clone vanishing instantly from the blows dealt to it.

"Careful, Naruto. A lot of mechs have arrived at the far end of the corridor." Hinata informed him, seeing through the walls with her Byakugan.

"Okay, Tenten. Take care of them, so we can proceed." the Nara requested.

Tenten moved past Naruto and brought out her Gun-array, using her periscope to look around the corner before she brought in the rain.

The group proceeded from there once the mechs had been destroyed. Their curiosity driving them forward as the sounds of a battle could be heard further in. And as they moved in, something was slammed into a wall somewhere with sufficient force for cracks to appear on the opposite side.

Whoever is currently fighting within the inner confines of the station, it's a strong one. No doubts about it.

* * *

The containment had failed. The Kalinin managed to break out of the labs and started to wreak havoc, and the situation grew worse by the hour as the reduction of base guard personnel forced the scientists to rely solely on mechs to keep them safe. But to no avail.

Now, members of the free group managed to invade the base. They were trapped by the certainty of their defeat. How were they supposed to handle a battle on two fronts? Utterly ridiculous, they couldn't even handle the three that remained confused about the world they woke up to.

Koliat and the rest of his science staff holed themselves up in one of the containers in the station's cargo area, hoping that the aliens would overlook them even as the fight continued around them. The head researcher deployed their remaining YMIR mechs to stall the group that just arrived, but which group remained a mystery, and none of them were eager to go check.

The container shook like all hell as something solid struck it, they could hear the distinct noise of an YMIR trying to correct it's movements, trying to bring it's gun to bear, only to receive a blow that pulverized it and left an imprint that showed on the inside of the container. Their hiding place twisted mildly out of shape as a result... the scientists tried to stand as still as possible, a few didn't even dare to breathe as the fighting continued. And slowly decreased as the number of mechs dropped.

They could hear steady noise of the bursts of gunfire and the explosion of launched grenades. Mixed with what sounded like plain punches and the oddest sounds that none of them could fully place. The container rocked slightly side to side as if it had landed itself in a river.

With that, the amount of gunfire lessened significantly.

Koliat held his breath. Whispering a prayer in the depths of his mind.

* * *

They could hear signs of action up ahead. In what looked like a cargo area. Heavy metallic footsteps could be heard along with the discharge of heavy weapons. All together with noise caused by effects of Jutsu they found mildly familiar.

"We got allies in there, get in and provide assistance!" Shikamaru hollered.. the group shouted together as they leaped past the organized piles of cargo in their immediate path.

And right there, they found an YMIR that seemed to be trying to locate a target before it's sensors registered the group that had just arrived, turning it's massive guns towards the teens. A rapid flurry of movements followed.

Naruto and Hinata leaped to the side, to flank the mech from two sides while Shikamaru clasped his hands together into a sign while getting down on one knee while his shadow shot forward. Tenten brought her weapons to bear to provide suppressive fire.

But someone beat them to the punch.

The shadow of a man burst out of the background, zigzagging through the many crates in the area at a speed that would have broken a lesser man. One of his hands glowing with an incredibly focused ball of lightning as he rushed forward, calling his attack as it hit the YMIR mech that had been distracted from it's previous target. The machine's chest blasted away as the piercing strike connected.

"Lightning Blade!"

The teens halted in their attacks, completely stunned as the mech collapsed from the blow dealt to it. The man, wearing white shirts and pants, along with a surgeon mask as if to replace the mask he used to wear almost all the time. He simply stared back at the youngsters, though none as young as when he last saw them. They had grown quite noticeably. "Naruto..? Hinata..? Shikamaru..? Tenten..? … H-how long have I been gone...?" he asked in astonishment.

The others did not answer at all.. the silence only broken as a few tears fell from Naruto's eyes.. "K-Kakashi-Sensei!" he cried out as he broke into a full run towards him.

"Eh..? Oi!" Kakashi stopped Naruto before he could hug him.. "That's just too embarrassing." he calmly told the boy, but fell silent as the other teens did the same, closing in all around him.. the group collapsing all around him. As if only by examining him up close could they confirm that it's indeed him.

"Has it been... that long?" Kakashi asked softly.

Naruto wiped his tears away.. "Yeah.. you've been dead for months."

The man's eyes widened in apparent horror.. "Wait... is this edo tensei?" he gazed down at his own hands uneasily.

"No. These aliens revived you. Shikamaru have gone through it as well." Tenten told him.

Kakashi turned towards the Nara, blinking before looking back at his hands. Speechless, but released a sigh of relief.

"Are there others with you who have been revived?" Shikamaru inquired.

"Hmm, yes... Temari and the Raikage's here also. Fought alongside them during the last few days to escape this place."

"Hinata.." the Nara turned to the girl, "Find them and bring them to the hangar. Tenten, you escort Kakashi to the hangar right away. Naruto, let's find what Cerberus personnel remains on this station."

"A crowd of them are inside that container.." the Hyuga informed them, pointing towards the mildly twisted rectangle-shaped construct.

"Then we'll go round them up. Everyone, let's get it done."

The group scattered as everyone attended to each their objectives. All the Scientists quickly chased out of the container by the Shinobi, and herded them together. Slowly making them all move as directed.

* * *

The hangar turned into quite a busy area after their ship finished docking. Onoki and Nagato held a meeting with the three most recent additions to the group, going through everything they have gone through. A general summary of the war, it's result. And a thorough explanations of what occurred over the course of their journey across the galaxy. About their new allies. And their new adversary... the Void Demons especially. About the separate group led by Kabuto and Madara.

The meeting went on.. All three of them with a lot of questions to ask. The Raikage especially, who's loud voice carried across the hangar over the hushed voices of the others.

The rest of the group attended to different matters, getting to know the station, and acquiring a complete list of the inventory. The number of bodies, the equipment. And artifacts that had been taken from their world. Using the Cerberus survivors they found as a work force.. Forcing the Scientists to strip the station of everything the Kalinin need to revive their long dead comrades.

The cold storage area on board their ship was modified so that they could store away all the bodies on the station within it.

They also brought out the artifacts. Much of it which they could very possibly need in the times ahead. Inspection still pending, but the amount of items in the crates used to be greater. Some of it had been sold on the black market according to the Humans.

This process filled up much of the empty space on board the ship. The Cruiser filled to the brim with activity as Humans moved back and forth. Scientists and scattered engineers and technicians that were found after when they inspected the station in full.

Kisame acted as overseer to direct the Humans, and at the same time keep them in line. Having next to no knowledge on how to use the technology used by Cerberus in the reanimation process, they did not have any choice but to keep the Humans around on the ship. Crafting bunks in a tight collection of rooms so that the Humans could have somewhere to rest in between work hours.

Naruto and the others wanted to help.. but Onoki ordered them to rest. Reasoning that they had been doing much more than their share of the recent days of work. Mei and Konan brought them some warm soup and some soda to drink. And the teens eventually accepted the break, though only with a certain amount of reluctance, but slowly managed to relax.

Temari excused herself from the meeting eventually, heading over to the others with a monstrous headache plaguing her.

Kakashi turned his attention to away from the meeting as it slowed it's pace. Having gotten the gist of most of what the Tsuchikage and former Akatsuki member told them. While the Raikage continued to inquire for further details.

His attention soon focused on Naruto and the others, admiring how they've grown in his absence. But in the midst of this, he noticed something. About how Naruto and Hinata smiled to each other, talking and laughing together. Their entire body language alone told him plainly that they had gotten very close. Before he died, Naruto still remained completely oblivious to the fact that the Hyuga had watched him from afar for years. This change did take him by surprise. Deciding to later ask one of the others about how those two developed their relationship to such a degree once he's able to get sufficient elbow-space.

With that, he turned back to the others and listened in rapt attention. The questions venturing towards topics regarding the Citadel.

* * *

Temari nearly fell as she sat among the others, a hand resting on her forehead as the headache rained hell on her.

"Hey, you doing alright?" Shikamaru asked, receiving a groan in return.. A rather dumb question he admitted immediately.

Temari hissed softly "Of course, with all the stuff you've been going through explained all in one go. Can barely even believe it."

"Well, it's all true." Tenten confirmed, fishing into the bucket of ice Konan brought with the soda, containing plenty of ice and emptied some of it into a bag to form an improvised ice pack before tossing it over to Temari.

The Sand-nin accepted the ice pack and sighed with some relief as she placed it on her head.. "And we basically have to repopulate our species as well as fight a war against a race of super-machines on top of all that. This is such a drag.." she lamented with a dry tone.

"... That's my line.." Shikamaru drawled.. "But it's not like we got much of a choice in the matter. Without repopulating, our people won't have a future. And if those machines win, it'll be over for everyone."

It was then that they noticed Mei approaching them.. "I've set up a few extra beds on board the ship. Temari, is it? Your bed's in the same room as Shikamaru and Tenten."

The two others did blink at that. Shikamaru thinking that their room's already crowded with just two. _Such a drag_.

"I don't even know where that is.." Temari groaned.

"Then ask them to show you around. Other than that, feel free to retire to your rooms at any time. We'll take care of things out here. Especially you two.." she turned her attention more directly towards Naruto and Hinata.. "Kami knows you've earned some R&R."

A familiar sharp chuckle could be heard within the next few seconds.. "I've done a lot of hard work too, may I take some time off?" Kisame asked, having suddenly appeared close to them.

"No." Mei walked past him and dragged him away by his ear while the missing-nin flailed at the unexpected move.. "You still have much to do..!"

The teens watched the two leave before Tenten turned to Temari.. "So... want us to show you around?"

Temari shrugged, dropping the ice pack to the floor as the headache gradually lessened. "Sure."

* * *

The Raikage stomped his way through the station after having donned a set of armor from the armory. Heading towards the station's main office. Back in the armory, he encountered Kurotsuchi and Hidan as they gathered together the entire inventory into various crates. Hidan about to transport all the equipment to the ship with the help of an automatic forklift, which he hitched a ride with once he set it to move towards the hangar.

He asked about the location of the station's main office from Kurotsuchi, whom knew where to go after having inspected the entirety of the place herself.

"Is this it?" he asked, gesturing to the door at the end of the hallway.

"It is. Anything more you want to know?" the woman asked.

A simply shook his head. "That won't be necessary. Just stay out here, I'll go in by myself."

Kurotsuchi nodded slowly.. "Alright, call out if you need anything." she replied, hefting one of the weapons she kept with her.. of the weapons in the armory, it was practically overflowing with M-96 Mattocks. Standing guard while A conducted his business, whatever it is.

…

The office itself appeared to be far cleaner than most of the facility. Everything had been kept nice and tidy. Near-perfect symmetry. He wanted to see the leader of the organization responsible for the project that had just been reduced to nothing, everything now within the grasp of the Shinobi. He had briefly interrogated the Head researcher Koliat to find out how to contact that leader, taking away the scientist's Omni-tool as well.

But he didn't need to search for long. A Virtual Intelligence popped up on the side of the table, regarding the Raikage as it scanned him and found the Omni-tool. "Good day, Sir. The Illusive man have requested a meeting regarding the current situation."

A stared right back at the VI for a moment before nodding.. "Open the link, now."

"Establishing connection." the VI responded.. parts of the floor shifting to form a circle from which a sort of grid ascended, scanning the space within the circle and showing an all-around image.

Taking this as the answer.. the Raikage turned and marched into it and found himself looking at quite a magnificent sight.. his eyes resting on the incredible if excessive decorations in the office shown. But centered his view on a uniformed Human whom certainly didn't expect to see him. "Who are you? Where is Koliat?"

"In our employ now. Your experiments on our people ends now!" A stated firmly.. "We will soon finish stripping everything we need off this station."

The Illusive man looked stunned.. "It can't be.. None of our personnel would serve you. There's no way for you to escape.." his voice fell into silence as he noticed the slightest smirk from the Kalinin.. "Nagato and his crew's there, aren't they?"

"Yes." he answered in a straightforward manner. "We'll be leaving soon. You and your organization better stay out of our way. Try to stop us and Cerberus will be dismantled by our hands. It is best for all concerned if you preserve your forces for the upcoming invasion." the Raikage raised his fist, his body instantly covered by a shroud of lightning. "Although, if anything... even though your intents weren't for our well-being, it gave our species a second chance. For that one reason alone, I thank you. That's all I needed to say to the likes of you."

The Illusive man stood up from his chair, dropping his cigar with the expression of a man who felt his whole ambitious scheme crashing down around him, "Wait!"

But A wouldn't listen, and brought his fist down on the floor, utterly destroying the COM system along with the entire office.

The door opened as Kurotsuchi rushed in, weapon held at the ready as she stared into the resulting smoke.. "What's happening here?"

"Nothing worth paying further attention to for the time being." the Raikage replied as he pushed past the woman whom stared at the ruined office for a moment before she turned to follow.

"Why did you go and ruin it?" she groaned, "Onoki needed that office intact to find out where Cerberus shipped off some of the artifacts' they stole! Now it's all gone, the aliens don't keep information like we do!"

The man simply huffed and continued. Kurotsuchi couldn't help but stare at him in exasperation.. he breaks everything he touches when upset. Should probably convince the others to tie him up while he's on board the ship. Last she wanted was for a hull breach to happen because of one of his tantrums.

She slumped a little bit, deciding to head back and get a heavy drink, no, make it an extra heavy to calm her nerves.

Still got plenty of work for the next few days before they'll leave the Zeus station behind after all.

* * *

And another Chapter done. Will be initiating a hiatus for this story after the next chapter... covering a few more details including the aftermath of the battle against the Collectors. Oh, and Kakashi's question concerning how Naruto and Hinata got together during his absence. Probably something which should of been explored in greater detail earlier, but decided it would flow better if Kakashi asks the others about it in curiosity about how they got together in the first place.

Thought about having them managing to getting involved on the events of Arrival. But decided against it.

Oh, and do review, please. :)


	38. Chapter 38

Chapter 38 ahoy. Darn, it was a difficult chapter to write.

* * *

The tour had gone smoothly so far, they generally avoided all the Humans that Kisame worked to keep in line and working accordingly. None of which were eager to slack off or try something sneaky.

Shikamaru pressed himself against the wall as a machine moved by at a great speed, apparently ridden by Hidan. '_Oh, this can't be good_'... and so he closed his eyes and winced as the machine crashed into the armory, eliciting a loud expletive from both girls inside.

They were in the middle of a tour, and Tenten decided to show Temari around the armory. And now a fight's about to kick off. The boy eased himself past the corner and stayed quiet as Hidan audibly started taking hits. And Shikamaru did not dare to get involved, it's too much of a drag to end up in a crossfire, especially if chosen as an object for two angry females to work off their frustrations on for having to clean up a mess that could had been avoided if the Jashinist payed any attention to his driving.

"Hey, you have a minute?"

Shikamaru turned to see Kakashi approaching him, and quickly mulled it over.. "Sure, why not?" he parted from the wall to walk with the other, "I thought you'd be busy.."

"That's true, I'm busy.. This me is just a shadow clone."

A slow nod.. "So, what can I help you with?"

The man shrugged.. "Just wanted to know more about what transpired after I... well, died."

"About the start of the war?" Shikamaru asked.. "I can try to fill in a few spots. As you probably know from the earlier meeting, I died in the middle of the war while I was carrying vital intelligence.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes slightly.. "Yes, I heard that it was a terrible war." the two of them edged to the side of the hallway as Kurotsuchi suddenly made her way past them at high speed, muttering something about finding a bat intended for use on Hidan for causing the mess back there. "But... there's something else I wanted to know."

"Well..." the boy drawled as the woman hurried back and brushed past them again, carrying a huge bat.. he couldn't help but feel sorry for Hidan for a second there for what's to come. "What would you like to know?"

"How they got together.. Hinata and Naruto. Last I remember, as oblivious as Naruto used to be... it was as though they lived on different planets, what happened?"

"Oh, that. It started a few days after you bought it at the start of the war when it was as though the sky fell down on us." Shikamaru paused for a few seconds, shuddering as memories flooded in, before he continued.. "We managed to erect a semi-secure shelter in the wilds during a small lull in the constant fighting that went on. It was a quiet evening, and then the Geth deployed artillery and shelled several parts of our perimeter." a deep sigh.. "One of the shells crashed into the area where we kept many of our wounded.. Sakura stood only a few feet from the area of impact, the resulting explosion tore her body apart."

The boy paused to gauge Kakashi's reaction, but the man remained silent, staring into space ahead of them.

"He lost his whole team. Sasuke... we never found out what happened to him since then, Sai and Yamato simply vanished during the initial chaos. Then you died, followed shortly by Sakura. Naruto fell into a very deep depression. Like falling into a well, and not being able to climb back up."

Kakashi's thoughts turned towards his memories of Rin and Obito. Particularly the latter. Losing close friends are always a terrible experience. He turned slightly towards Shikamaru and with a nod urged him to continue.

"Hinata was one of the few who managed to approach him after that. It was as though people thought that getting close to him would get them killed. No one said anything, but his loneliness was palpable during that time. At that time, she was just a friend who tried to nurse him back to health. And if nothing else, to provide a shoulder."

"That's how it began?"

"Yes, they fought closely since then. And of course, it was tough. Few can even hope to keep up with a Jinchuriki. But they got close during that time, she did a fine job of mending some of his open wounds. Then the battle came where she almost died.." he paused before continuing.. "That was just after we managed to link up with survivors from the other villages to form a more unified defense, with the Akatsuki becoming a sort of major force and mediators between the sides, I shit you not."

"How did that help their relationship?"

"It didn't.. not directly. She nearly died, but managed to stay alive by clinging to life by the very skin of her teeth, all while Naruto stayed by her side. His words for her not to give up probably was the reason she managed to get through it all. The medics could do very little to actually help, but there was one route left to take.. It was Akatsuki that provided the thing that saved her. And so she became the Sanbi Jinchuriki."

That got a noticeable reaction from Kakashi.. "What...? She's a Jinchuriki now?"

Shikamaru nodded in a grim manner. "She recovered thanks to that Three-tailed monster's help. And since then managed to fight alongside Naruto more effectively once she managed to utilize it's strengths, especially after Killer B joined their team and tutored them about how to use their Tailed beasts better."

"Ah, now that you mention it... he was among the very few Jinchuriki who actually managed to gain perfect control over their beasts, how did such a man die?"

"It happened during one of their counter-sessions." Shikamaru managed a fragile smile.

"Counter-session?"

"A term that Killer B used in his rapping at any such occasion." Shikamaru explained.. "Basically whenever a bombardment came down from the orbiting Geth fleet, the Jinchuriki's would move away from the main force and start lobbing Bijudama's into orbit to counter them. That alongside a team of sensors to help coordinating their fire. We don't know how much damage they managed to cause.. but enough to fetch the machines' attention." - "Eventually, they tried to counter the 'Counter-session' by using an army combined with orbital fire to elicit that routine, and then ambushed the Jinchuriki with a second much larger army, quickly encircling them. Brought in more ships, and tried to finish them off."

"They failed." Kakashi guessed.

A sigh.. "Partially. Killer B blew a hole open in their lines so that the rest could escape. But he got himself surrounded soon after and was pounded by massed artillery and orbital bombardment for several hours, killing him. They didn't take any chances of him pulling off some trick to throw them off. Before that battle at least, he managed to finish the others' training. And the Hachibi appeared again later, having released by the death of it's host and reverted to it's feral state."

Kakashi looked through an open door along the way as they walked, blinking as by coincidence they had come across the room that belongs to Naruto and Hinata.. both visible within the room, sleeping soundly in their beds.. which looked as though they had been pushed together recently so that it resembled a single bed. Sleeping close to one another now.  
Most of their clothes had been scattered through the room, with only a blanket shielding their forms from onlookers.

"They fought together many times since then, and as they continually saved each others, and other people.. and spent time with each other, Naruto eventually fell in love with her. And she in turn finally managed to confess her feelings in turn. As if it wasn't obvious enough. It was.. downright inspiring."

"How so?" Kakashi asked.. the two of them had stopped their walk, though only the man looked into their room.

Shikamaru went and closed the door quietly.. "Back then at that point, death was all around us. Almost like the whole world had been paved over by ashes. The ashes of a dying world." - "Their love for each other could almost be felt by those around them, like the radiance of the sun. Even in the world's darkest hour, love still managed to endure. For some, it gave them courage. That just maybe, we could retake our world and see it return to normal."

Kakashi didn't say anything at first, simply stared at the closed door. "Anything more?"

"No, that was just before my ill-fated mission." Shikamaru whispered.. "Next thing I knew, I woke up on the Citadel with my friends all around me.. and a new weird reality." a long drawn sigh followed.. "All this new stuff are such a drag."

A sudden shout came to their attention at that moment.. "Shikamaru, where the hell are you?"

Shikamaru lowered his head.. "Aw, man. That's my 'lovely mate' calling."

"Well, we can continue this later." Kakashi drawled.

"Wait, no! Don't leave, need to have an excuse.."

"I heard that!"

Kakashi turned to see Tenten approaching them in such a foul mood that both males quaked in rising fear of what's coming. "Hmm, think it's time for me to go for the time being." he quickly made the necessary signs for the shadow clone to disperse. Leaving Shikamaru hanging, feeling cornered as the female closed the distance between them. And a scream soon echoed throughout the ship as she grabbed him by the ear and hauled him back towards the armory.

* * *

Later, the changes to the Lance of the Six Paths continued. Progressing well towards providing the basis of increasing their numbers to the extent that they could reliable propagate their species without having to resort to extensive inbreeding.

Nagato entered the mess hall of the ship, just in time to miss the news.. A and Onoki, sitting at the central table while looking at the projector thoughtfully. Seemingly having managed to watch the news.

"So, what's new?" he asked, sitting down on the table.

They didn't answer at first until Onoki turned to answer.. "People started asking questions about why the Citadel suddenly mobilized an armada, and why a large portion of it had been destroyed during a subsequent operation without the general public getting informed about it in advance."

"So, what was the answer?"

"The Council said that it was an emergency action in response to a major Geth incursion." the old man noticed Nagato's expression and added, "Yeah.. No mention of any Maker tech. Nothing about us or the Collectors, or Kabuto's group. So yeah, they pointed towards the Geth instead. And to add credence to their words, outlying worlds have reported in about Geth incursions."

"Easier to swallow than what you told me yesterday." the Raikage grunted.

Onoki did agree on that notion. "Would've had a hard time believing it myself if I didn't witness those events with my own eyes."

"Should have seen the news earlier then, that one was kinda particular." Mei told them as she brought a few drinks and put them on the table. "About the phenomenon that paralyzed the whole galaxy."

"Oh yeah... about that, how did the galaxy react to that?" Nagato asked, genuinely curious.

"Hah. Crime rates have been crashing all over the galaxy. Some news reporters tried to interview a few criminals who have decided to turn over a new leaf after the phenomenon. Taking education and finding some honest work." Mei replied with a bit of an amused smirk.. "The reason so many of them are doing it now is that they believe that they received an epiphany that demonstrated the anger of the Gods towards the criminals' sinful actions. So now, most of them are trying to repent for their past-wrongdoings."

"It seems that the Eye of the Galaxy did some good after all during it's brief existence." Onoki laughed.

"Yes. And it also caused Church attendance to sky-rocket all across the galaxy, all faiths. For example, the Hanar are holding celebrations to honor the divine presence of what they called the 'Eye of the Enkindlers' …"

"What did you expect? To us, it was simply caused by a Jutsu of titanic proportions. But to the rest of the galaxy, it might just as well be thought as a divine occurrence." Nagato said softly, gazing at his drink as he thought it over.

"Does not stop many from trying to figure out the event through a scientific approach though. The Science vs Religion debates on the Extranet have become so intense.. that if the heat from those discussions were converted into actual energy, it could have reduced entire star clusters to cinders."

"Any news about the recent battle on Palaven?" Nagato asked.

A responded this time with a huff.. "They kicked it into a storm, but have reassured the galaxy that the enemy have been decisively defeated. They confirmed the existence of the Collectors. But for now, no one have tried to connect these sudden series of events."

"Any word about the Reapers?"

"Nothing at all." Onoki growled. "Not even about the Jubi."

"Maybe they only want to make sure the galaxy don't panic by hiding the knowledge about the machine race that wants to destroy all life. Who knows what might be going on in the heads of the Council. Maybe they are making some secret preparations right now." Mei seemed to be guessing, but as far as the others are concerned.. that assumption might turn out to be accurate.

"Most likely it will involve whatever help Kabuto and his group can provide."

"Indeed." the old man whispered before getting up.. "Well, I should probably get back to help the rest.."

"... Likewise." the Raikage nodded before he stood up and left the room. Leaving Nagato and Mei to continue the discussion.

* * *

In the middle of the second day, they finished securing all the bodies on the ship within the highly improvised cold storage chamber that would keep the bodies from getting damaged further by hazards such as decomposition. Two members of the crew walked among the bodies, all stored away within coffins that had been made to help preserve the bodies and allow them to be transported. Each with a different set of numbers and letters to tell them apart.

"Are you sure?" Temari asked in vain hope.

Konan shook her head.. "Yes, the vast majority of the bodies are very difficult to identify in their current state. That is, until they are restored sufficiently." she replied, gesturing lightly towards a few Human scientists that also moved about within the chamber before exiting.

The Sand Shinobi lowered her head.. "I see.. Just wanted to know if there's other people from the Sand village among them. Especially hoping to see my brothers again."

Konan placed a hand on the girl's shoulder.. "With luck, that might be the case. But you need to steel yourself for the possibility that you may be the only Sand Shinobi that Cerberus managed to recover."

"It's that bad...?" Temari asked, feeling depressed all of a sudden.

The woman nodded.. "Yes, the Sand village and the Mist village suffered the most damage at the beginning of the Geth invasion. The number of Shinobi from those villages to join the united forces were few." a moment of silence fell on the chamber.. "Some more thorough information about the location from where they recovered the bodies could have helped on that little issue. But after the Raikage wrecked the place..."

Temari groaned in irritation, bringing a hand up to her face for a fleeting moment.

"I'm sorry, but for now we have no choice but to hope." Konan looked towards the coffins in a solemn manner. "For what it's worth, I do understand your pain somewhat. Me and Nagato lost a friend dear to us many years ago during the second war."

"That's a long time ago.." Temari whispered.

"It feels like it was just yesterday to us..." Konan whispered back, her voice even softer as she turned to leave the room.. Leaving Temari to gaze at the door through which the woman left. Deep in thought as she lowered her gaze to her open palms.

"Gaara, Kankuro... please be here." she begged quietly before leaving the room in turn, slowly looking over her shoulder as if expecting some sort of revelation before going through the door.

* * *

Later that same day, Onoki worked hard on compiling and organizing the artifacts recovered from the base within the room that had been labeled as 'The Library'. It proved to be more difficult than expected. Chaotic heaps of scrolls, books, various tools, weapons... etc.

The old man found one suspicious-looking handle sticking out of one heap and pulled it out with a bit of effort, dropping it immediately once he recognized it.

"Okay, safe to say... Cerberus were pretty thorough in their search efforts. But where in the blazes did they come across a few of the Five treasures? Found two of them already in here."

The only other person in the room, Kisame, stood by the door.. his duty of keeping watch on the Humans did take it's toll on his face. He maintained the same threatening grinning expression so long that it was practically stuck. If it wasn't for him talking, one could easily mistake his face for a mask. The man muttering quietly in annoyance, Hidan was still howling in laughter from when he found out. They could practically hear him from halfway across the ship.

"Searching for anything in particular?"

"As a matter of fact.. yes." Onoki brushed the dust off one of the books and browsed through it briefly.. "It's no secret that the Void Demons are very powerful, especially the Jubi. We have already talked before about increasing the number of Jinchuriki we possess." - "We got several Tailed beasts after all."

"Yeah, I remember. But fact remains that such an operation depends on the compatibility of potential hosts. Not to mention the possible dangers that could happen after the Tailed beast are sealed into a designated host. One mistake and the host might die."

"I'm fully aware of that, Kisame. That's why I'm searching through the artifacts for a way to ease the process. To provide a controlled and safe environment for new Jinchuriki to train and adapt to their Tailed beasts." Onoki described as he put the book away and picked up a scroll, reading the inscription before putting that away as well.

"And then there's the type of seals. Which one's you gonna use?"

"The Iron armor seal, of course. It works for any Tailed beast all the way up to the Hachibi. We used it to seal the Sanbi into Hinata."

"Why not the Four symbol seal?"

"Ack, do you have any idea how few even knew about that technique to begin with? And even fewer that could actually do it? Practically non-existent now. And the chance of stumbling over something that shows how to produce it in these heaps are... slim at best."

"Pity.. It'd probably be the wisest choice to use it for whoever becomes the Hachibi Junchuriki." Kisame commented.. "As far as a few Cloud Shinobi told me back during the war, the use of the Iron armor seal can be problematic for a Tailed beast that powerful."

Onoki sighed deeply.. "I know... and what's worse. The Raikage will very possibly volunteer to become the Hachibi's host at this rate."

"Old man's got a death wish I'd say. Wouldn't the youngsters be a much better choice? It's for a reason that most candidates are made into hosts at a young age. Aside from that such young people wouldn't be able to resist the process anyway."

"Indeed. It's safer when the host's still young and growing, as long as they are treated right." Onoki opened yet another scroll.. "It'll probably take weeks to prepare for it. We'll only make this official to the others once we're close to getting ready."

"Telling them now would give them some time to think about it thou... -" he stopped mid-sentence as someone suddenly began shouting in panic. "What the...?" Kisame opened the door just in time to see Konan stomp past it, with a flailing Nagato on her left shoulder.. it looked as though she tried to kidnap him, with a measure of success.

Further down the hall, they could hear the rest laughing, including Hidan whom shouted; "Ya little wuss!"

"What the hell just happened?" Onoki asked.

"I think.." Kisame guessed.. "Konan's ready for mating, but Nagato... isn't."

Onoki stiffly grimaced as Nagato's voice vanished into the distance. Kisame shortly did that as well when his frozen expression loosened.

"Hey, I think he just fainted.." they could hear Naruto tell the rest.

"Oh, kami..." Kisame could hear Temari utter in disbelief.

"Er..." Onoki still maintained his grimace as he picked up yet another book, "I'll just get back to work.."

Kisame simply left the room.. "I need a drink..."

Little much needed to be said as silence partially descended on the room.

* * *

Within the next few days, they finally left the Zeus station behind, having stripped everything they wanted and needed from it. The Humans beginning shortly to restore the first couple of bodies, though progress proved to be slow, though Koliat promised that the process will pick up in speed soon.

He and his crew worked hard because of the promises of freedom in exchange for restoring all the dead Kalinin back to life. The terms had been made days before, but only right before the departure was the deal fully hammered out and agreed on by both parties.

The Shinobi kept an eye on the news in case anything happened as often as they could spare one.. And soon found that the Citadel had made their affiliation with Kabuto and Madara official. With all the grandeur thrown in.

Overall, it meant bad news. That the Council had basically taken the bait. And with the whole might of the Citadel military in their way, they couldn't possibly do anything to stop the situation from developing further in the villainous group's favor.

Nothing to do but to wait for an opening, and pray that it won't be too late.

* * *

It did not take many days before a small Citadel-aligned fleet approached the Zeus station. Just one of many that had been mobilized for the purpose of demolishing Cerberus. It was the last time Anderson partook in a council meeting before he suddenly decided to resign, leaving Udina to take his place as the Human representative.

So far, the operation had proven to be a great success. A large number of bases and front companies aligned with Cerberus had already fallen in quick succession, and a great number of it's agents arrested. However, the Illusive man managed to escape amidst the chaos when Turian forces raided Minuteman station.

A lone Frigate joined in merely minutes after the Turian flotilla did. The shuttle assigned to it quickly departing for the Zeus station even as squadrons of Turian Soldiers staged an assault, completely oblivious about the events that had transpired just a few days ago.

Some damage could be seen outside, but in deep space close to the Terminus systems, there could be many reasons for the damage.

The shuttle landed within the station's hangar, a few Turians watching it from nearby with slight suspicion. The team leader approaching as the passengers disembarked from the shuttle.

"Halt! Identify yourselves!" he demanded, confused as to why a few Humans were allowed past the fleet when this was supposed to an exclusively Turian operation.

"Relax soldier." the closest of the two that left the shuttle told him.. "Ashley Williams, Citadel Spectre." she introduced herself promptly. "We're authorized to be here."

"Ah, I've heard about you... the second Human Spectre." Lieutenant Chalto murmured.. "If I may be blunt, we got everything under control here."

"Considering what we could be up against here, I'm certain we'll be needed soon enough." Ashley responded in turn.

Chalto seemed rather bewildered, looking towards the person behind the Spectre... a girl? Thinking of why a Human teenager's here before he noticed the badge she's wearing on her armor. A stylized Army arrangement fan with a Mitsudomoe in the middle. The emblem of the Citadel-aligned Kalinin.

"Haven't you encountered any resistance yet?" the girl asked impatiently, looking around. She could see signs of damage caused by combat, though it all seemed days old.

"Not yet, my guess is that they have chosen to barricade themselves deeper within the station. We'll flush them out soon enough." Chalto began before he suddenly raised a hand to the side of his head as he received a report from those farther in.. "W-what? There's nothing in there?" he bawled in disbelief.. "Hold on, I'm coming!"

Ashley moved in closer to him.. "Not without us.."

The Turian glared at the woman for a fleeting moment before he nodded, "Right.."

And so the group moved into the depths of the station, moving past scattered remains of what used to be mechs. Primarily LOKI at start, and YMIR further in. But the whole place seemed to be abandoned.

They eventually found the squads further in and inspected the labs. Finding nothing. All the equipment that weren't nailed down seemed to be missing. And they found nothing at all throughout the rest of the station until they approached the ruined main office.

The Turians that gathered in the area had collected all the bodies they found across the base and arranged them into rows in the wide hallway that lead to the office in question.

"This is it?" Chalto asked, looking over the bodies. From the looks of it, all of them used to be guards. Though their armor and weapons had been stripped from them.

"Yes, sir.." one of the soldiers responded, "Whatever attacked this place, have been pretty thorough in stripping the place bare."

"It's not 'whatever'- but 'who'." Tayuya argued.. she looked up, as if sensing something the others could not. "I've noticed there's some residual Chakra in various places here. Especially from over there." she needed towards the head office.

"How do you feel such things?" Ashley asked, raising an eyebrow.

"All of us can sense Chakra, to a degree at least." the girl responded.

Chalto already approached the office ahead of the rest until the door slid aside. Revealing the deeply ruined room. "Just what reasoning is there in leaving most of the station in a fairly decent state and utterly demolishing this tiny part of it?"

"The reasoning of someone with a short fuse." Ashley responded flatly as she moved past the Turian and examined the damaged remains of the room. It was indeed strange. The room seemed to have a central impact crater. As if that's what caused all of this damage. Her gaze wandered over to a piece of furniture. A series of modules stood there on the shelf, most of it broken into pieces. But one still stood, and it looked rather conspicuous. The woman raised a hand and touched it.

And to her surprise, a hidden door tried to open, only to halt because of structural damage. "I've found something, give me a hand."

"Step aside, I'll handle it.." Tayuya informed the Spectre while approaching the door. Activating her cursed seal all the way to level two. Her skin turned dark brown, her hair grew longer and multiple horns grew out of her head. Much to the surprise of the onlookers.

The girl stabbed her fingers into the slight opening and gradually, in a fit of intense concentration, forcefully pulled the door wide open. Revealing a small surveillance chamber. The effects of her cursed seal vanished immediately once she completed the task, leaning against the wall while panting softly. Simply watching as Ashley and Chalto walked into the newly revealed room.

"Seems to be a backup... and in good shape at that." The Spectre whispered while she started browsing through the files listed in the database. Recordings taken during the project. And of when things started to go wrong. All until the most recent occurrence just a few days ago.

She watched as the guard force of the station were gradually demolished into nothing by a two-pronged assault that happened by coincidence. And then watched as the station was gradually stripped by the recently restored Kalinin and the newly arrived ones.

"Nagato's group.. figures." Tayuya groaned. "I guess that's better than the alternatives."

Ashley acknowledged her with a nod while looking through one of the latest recordings of the events that thrashed the office behind them. The appearance of a large muscled man who briefly conversed with what could be the Illusive man. Merely conjecture since she couldn't see the one the man spoke to. Then the man threw a fit and smashed the place up. With terrifying force. "Do you know who this one is?" she asked the Kalinin.

She shook her head.. "Never seen him, never met him. Have read about him though. Details about his strength and appearance fits. He must be the Fourth Raikage of Kumogakure."

"Hmpf, he might be big and strong.. But he's probably slow exactly because of that." Chalto chuckled. "Not a big threat against proper soldiers."

"Think like that, and you'll end up in a morgue." the girl responded with a grunt.. "He's one of the fastest Shinobi in the world. Underestimate him, and he'll blow you away."

Ashley turned to regard the two as they glared at one another. "Alright, settle down. Gather all the recordings into one package and deliver it to the Council." she notified the Lieutenant as she turned to leave, gesturing for Tayuya to do the same. The girl doing so with slight reluctance.

The Turian stared at them as they left before he turned and ordered the few engineers under his command to come over and extract the data.

It did not take too long for the two to return to the Frigate, the ship turning around and moved to leave the Armstrong cluster through the closest relay.

Several hours later while the ship's on the way, Ashley decided to approach Tayuya in the small hangar of the ship, who stood close to a collection of sealed crates.

"How long will it take us to get there?" the girl asked, taking the initiative.

Ashley frowned.. "A few days, we need to check in at Arcturus station before moving on to Huygens dome on Titan, one of Saturn's moons, where we will drop you off for the time being until you finish whatever business you wish to conduct there."

"While you go to Earth to visit a certain Commander Shepard, am I right?" Tayuya asked with a small grin.

"And what if I am? Don't forget that you'll be kept under strict surveillance for the duration of your stay."

"As if I could forget." the girl rolled her eyes.. "I'm just supposed to be waiting for a special client and hand over these items."

"Nagato and his crew?" Ashley asked.

Tayuya simply nodded. "You know very well that the Voi- Reapers exist, don't you? Since you told me earlier that you used to serve under Shepard." she waited for an answer, but received only one firm nod.. "Our... rivals, are in the possession of a ton of firepower just sitting around useless in various vases and kettles. Lord Kabuto created these little items to... help make use of that power without risking themselves in the process."

"If they're your enemies, then why?"

"Because, at the moment, there's a greater threat. This little contribution might help them, and everyone else a great deal, but in the end... the things we'll provide for the Citadel will make this paltry contribution pale by comparison."

"Just what exactly are your leaders going to create?"

"I'm only an underling following orders, you expect me to know all about Lord Kabuto's plans? I'm just supposed to go to Huygens dome, wait, deliver the items when they arrive and then return to base. Or simply leave if they don't show up at all. That's it."

Ashley fell silent, as if contemplating, "How do you know they'll come?"

"I don't. But they will almost certainly come once they find out about what Shepard's about to go through. He's the benefactor of both of our groups, whether he's comfortable with that fact or not. They will certainly come to offer their support in any way they can. And I'll just be waiting down along the road."

"And they'll know you're there, how?"

To that, she could only offer a plain shrug. "And that's the question."

Feeling a little bewildered, she turned and left the hangar, leaving the young girl in peace.

* * *

A week quickly passed as they traveled around the galaxy seemingly at random. They relaxed, they trained and made sure to keep the ship running.

Hinata walked down the hall towards the room in which Onoki and Nagato had been working for quite a while now. But no one apparently knows what they are currently doing, or weren't allowed to talk about it freely.

She shoved the thought aside and knocked on the door, and was soon answered as Nagato opened the door. "Yes?"

The man had been looking rather ragged since that night of quality time with Konan. Hinata and the others found this awkwardness rather amusing. "Konan have called for a general meeting. In fact, you two are the only ones we're waiting for now before it can begin. Didn't you hear the announcement."

Nagato frowned and looked up towards the speaker, groaning something unintelligible before turning back.. "No, we haven't. Just give us a moment."

"If you may forgive me for asking, but what have you been doing here?"

"I'm sorry, but for the time being it's classified. But it will be revealed before long."

Hinata sighed softly.. nodding. Nagato closed the door and made her wait for a few minutes. His diet which Konan maintained had really worked out wonders. Just a month back he looked like a walking skeleton, now he looks much more like his age. And if she might allow herself to say so, attractive.

The men soon exited the room and ventured alongside Hinata back to the mess hall, where they usually hold their meetings.

"Took you long enough.." the Raikage stated impatiently.

"Don't blow a fuse, old man.." Naruto half-joked. A wasn't amused.

"Enough. Sit down and we'll get it over with." Konan asked, sitting on the far side of the room, looking rather worn out. With even the eldest preoccupied, the job of gathering information from abroad through the extranet and whatever news she could get from elsewhere landed squarely landed on her shoulders. Sufficed to say, it's been so busy that no one's been able to watch the news lately, so someone had to take it as a job.

None of the fellow Shinobi wasted any time in getting seated.

Konan kept her eyes on them for a few seconds before she stood up.. "With the intercom malfunctioning in a few parts of the ship, I've chosen to bring these news through a meeting instead of broadcasting." she paused while picking up a PDA. Releasing a cough before reading it.

"Okay, I have spent these last several days gathering information through the Extranet as you know, and just yesterday I discovered these ciphers." she quickly transferred the cryptography over to the projector for all to see. Four squares filled with symbols. "And since then, I've been working on decoding them."

"What does this have to do with us..?" Naruto groaned in confusion.

"These ciphers were made for us, and then placed on the Extranet for us to find. And apparently, it's a message from Kabuto."

More than a few shifted uneasily where they sat.

"And what the hell does he want with us?" it was Naruto again.

"Apparently, the message says that he got something we'd like to have. But the meeting place is a place called Huygens dome, which is within the Sol system, the very core of the Human realm."

"I'd like to ask, do they think we're stupid? It's very likely to be a trap." Hidan asked.

"As if you're the poster-boy for intelligence, Hidan.." Kakashi flatly told him.

Konan coughed as she went on to answer, "Because according to the news, Shepard's on Earth. And apparently, he's going to stand trial soon for causing the devastation of the Bahak system, among other things."

"Hrm, as much as I'd like to help, how are we even supposed to get through to the Sol system anyway?" Onoki raised a hand.. "I do not claim to know everything there is to know about the Systems Alliance, but there's the Arcturus station, we won't get past it with this ship."

"We just have to use a different ship then.. " Nagato replied easily.. "And we don't all need to go there to show our support."

"As for how to get past Arcturus, Kabuto seems to be suggesting we try to contact a Human by the rank and name of Admiral Hackett. The time those of us who survived the ordeal on our home world spent on the Normandy, we did learn that this Hackett supports Shepard quite openly."

"Come on, are we really considering doing this?" Hidan asked, obviously frustrated.

"We're simply considering our options, Hidan.." Kakashi noted calmly.. "Right?"

"Yes.." Konan, Nagato and Onoki said all at once. A few others nodding.

"Okay..." Shikamaru began.. "Let's just go as close as we can before we decide whether or not we should attempt to enter the Sol system. I don't think Shepard would appreciate us endangering ourselves for his sake."

"Good point." Tenten calmly answered to that. The rest seemed to agree.

"I agree, let's not hasten ourselves when there's no need. We'll make our approach first so we can better assess the situation and decide. But I for one am curious about what Kabuto has to offer."

"So is it decided yet? If so, let's go!" Naruto hollered as he stood up.

"Now don't forget, it's your turn to watch the Humans this time.." Kisame notified the boy, who quickly scratched the back of his head.

"I know that already!"

Onoki stood up.. "Alright then, everyone to their positions and get ready. Come, Shikamaru, let's turn this ship around."

"Yes, yes.." the Nara drawled as he stood up to follow.

Konan could only watch while the meeting ended abruptly as everyone got back up and returned to their specific tasks or places of rest. The mess hall nearly empty before she finally managed to utter a brief, "Well then.. meeting's dismissed."

The Lance of the Six Paths proceeded to leave the asteroid field in which the crew used as a hiding place for the duration of the meeting, picking up speed as it changed course towards the closest Mass relay, to start their cautious approach of the central territory of the Systems Alliance, and to find a way to get through the Charon relay unmolested as well as finding a way to contact Admiral Hackett if at all possible.

An impossible mission from the looks of it. They decided to at least give it a try.

* * *

And that's it for now. Although this chapter might be subject to change later depending on what comes up.

Other than that, with this chapter, this story will be on a **Hiatus **until the release of Mass Effect 3. Though there's a possibility that I might fill in another chapter to show events happening elsewhere in the galaxy.

Oh, and do review. Though I'm happy as long as the story's being read at least.


	39. Chapter 39

Chapter 39

Though technically, this chapter is an Extra.

* * *

The girl tossed and turned, feeling incredibly uneasy as she reached out to the side.. fumbling for the light until it flashed on by itself, as if reacting to her waking moment.

The nearly featureless white walls reflected some of the light, making it hard to see for a few fleeting seconds until she rubbed the haze out of her eyes. Unlike the Spectre and the ship's Commanding officer, she had to use the same room as the standard crew. Not that the girl found any reason to complain. A warm bed remains better than the alternative.

Slowly, the girl pulled herself off the bed and stumbled towards the door, which quickly slid aside as she approached it. Not even bothering to change her clothes, content to wander with just her newly acquired night-clothes on.

The girl felt a few eyes being directed at her, but she plainly ignored the attention and moved straight to the elevator. Why did she feel like something's wrong?

And then she directed her eyes down to her left hand, covered by the glove given to her by Lord Kabuto to help her keep an eye on the stuff down in the hangar even while she's absent. A fine few lines were blinking red, and she widened her eyes in stark realization that quickly sent her rushing into the elevator and hammered the button until the doors closed.

These elevators always felt dreadfully slow, and now in her haste, it felt even slower than usual. But, eventually the elevator arrived at the hangar, and the girl was quick to duck and roll through the exit even as it opened, pulling up the gun which she kept hidden on her thigh underneath her clothes nowadays, directing the weapon in the general direction of the crates.

One of them had been opened.. "Hey, show yourself!" she hollered in alarm, trying to peer through the dark.

"Relax, Tayuya." the voice of Ashley shattered the tense silence, stepping into view, "I'm just checking the merchandise."

"Who gave you the authorization to do that?" Tayuya asked in a not so friendly manner.

"I don't need authorization. Spectres are above the law." the woman firmly stated before turning back to the container, examining the armor within. It didn't look all that special, somewhat bulky in places, and stylized with various designs. Strange glowing canisters next to the armor itself, "What can you tell me about this thing? Something I should know about?"

"Truthfully, you're not supposed to know." Tayuya responded as she approached, having lowered her weapon, though remaining noticeably alert.

"I'm not asking, I'm ordering you to tell me what makes this armor so special that your leader wanted you to go to such a length to deliver this thing to the outlaw group of your kind." she sternly tossed back at the girl, who growled a little in response, "I won't allow this merchandise to leave the ship unless you reveal what I want to know."

The girl wanted to argue, she even briefly considered killing the woman.. but the mess that could cause, it'd endanger them. After some further inward debate, she slumped her shoulders.. "Alright.."

"Good. Now tell me." Ashley demanded softly.

"Yes, I'm supposed to be giving it over to Nagato's group.. But the true recipients will eventually be Shepard and his team."

That seemed to catch her attention.. "Shepard? But he.."

"Is going to stand trial yes. But when the Reapers invade, he will certainly be released in short order."

"So what can this armor do that will benefit him?"

"This armor was made to serve as an imitation of our Chakra circulatory system. Lord Kabuto created this armor after having studied Cerberus' past attempts at creating similar designs. He discovered the flaws and created a far more viable design so that other species may perform techniques similar to ours. Provided that they wear Chakra armor."

Ashley turned to the armor and stared at it, "That's the purpose of this thing?"

"Yes. And no one is supposed to know about it yet. It's beyond top secret. Except for dedicated scientists working with the rest of my group... only the Council, and the highest standing officials of each major civilization aligned with the Citadel have any knowledge about it. Not even the Spectres are supposed to know until the Council decides to go public with it."

"Can you show me how it works?" Ashley asked curiously, brushing a finger against the chest armor.

"Why not just go ahead and try it on while at it?" Tayuya shrugged.

"Actually..."

The girl sighed.. her intuition told her that the woman really did want to try it, "Alright, lets put it on then."

So that's basically what they did. Tayuya helped Ashley take off her armor and then carefully brought the other armor out of the crate, piece by piece and put it on instead. It was difficult for the Human to move it at first, being a little bit heavier than conventional armor until it was activated, allowing her to move more freely. And if she dared admitting it, even more so than her old armor allowed, despite the Chakra armor's bulky design.

"Now, how do I perform these techniques of yours?" the Spectre asked.

Tayuya went back to the crate and plucked out one of the canisters, and handed it over to Ashley.. "Insert this into the slot on the back of your armor."

Ashley thought about it a second and realized that she meant the cylinder-shaped bulge close to her rear, finding a circular slot on the side of it and inserted the canister. A characteristic hum erupting from her armor before quieting again.

"What now?" the woman asked.

"Hold your hand up like this." Tayuya instructed.. holding up her own and uses what resembles a one-handed Ram seal.

Ashley repeated the motion, rather awkwardly.

"It'll take some getting used to." Tayuya added, "But don't complain, our people need to learn twelve basic hand seals very early on and go through countless repetitions until we can form them flawlessly in rapid succession even in the middle of a heated battle without a second thought. You should count yourself lucky for only needing one seal."

"Yeah, lucky me..." Ashley replied, hiding the sarcastic tone she initially wanted to invest into it. She managed the seal after three attempts and an interface which resemble that of omni-tools popped up across her arm, "This..." she looked at it, and then realized the various options. She didn't notice the interface around her hand at first because of it being somewhere else. Only noticing it because of the symbols hanging in thin air, gathered together several inches to the left. Comfortably within the range of her left arm.

The initial "menu" only contained three buttons. Ashley pressed the one titled "Ninjutsu" and saw several more options pop up. With utmost curiosity, she pressed the option called "Wind blade".

Tayuya immediately became wary, "Now be careful. Once you activate a technique.. Chakra will be taken from the canister and circulate around your armor, and even venture into your own body in some cases. And unlike us, once you activate one, you will have no option but to use it, which can be dangerous if you activate a technique in the middle of the fight, but without using it only for it to be deployed accidentally after the fight."

"How do I deploy them?"

"You do it with physical gestures. If you use an Earth technique, you activate it by either stomping with your foot or touching solid surfaces with your palm."

She continued to explain, pausing after every one before continuing.

"If Fire or Water technique. You inhale and blow it out. But don't do it without opening your helmet first if you have one on."

"If Wind, you make slashing gestures with your arms."

"If Lightning, you slap your hands together with your index fingers pointed in the direction where you want the lightning bolt to go."

Ashley payed rapt attention to the explanation, "And I chose to use a Wind technique.. then it must mean..." she whispered before turning away from the girl and focused her sight on the wall and made a slashing gesture with both arms, feeling a slight recoil as a blasting wind burst forward and caused several deep cuts to appear on the wall on impact.

"Yes. For the moment, the number of techniques are few.. But eventually there will be programs released to the military that can be downloaded into the armor, allowing a broader selection of techniques." Tayuya informed her, "However..."

"What is it?" Ashley asked, getting a bad feeling.

The girl sighed.. "Though the armor will grant great powers to the forces of Citadel space, the powers shouldn't be abused. Fact is, it can be dangerous for other species to be exposed to excessive amounts of Chakra."

Ashley couldn't help but feel disturbed by this particular piece of information.. "What kind of damage could it cause?"

"Mostly mental. Your mind will degrade if using those powers too much in a short amount of time. That's what happened to a squad of Cerberus Commandos. Or more precise, in that case Chakra flowed through the armor and the body inside unhindered. This armor was designed to release only a set amount of Chakra with each technique. But still, you need to be careful and avoid excessive short-time usage."

The Spectre nodded gravely, but then something occurred to her... "But, how will Shepard be able to know all of this?"

"Through the instruction manual, of course." Tayuya answered, as if nothing could be any more obvious. "There's one in every crate, just to make sure."

"Alright. There were three options to begin with, which one is the most dangerous to deploy?"

"That would be Taijutsu. Because the Chakra will be injected into your body once you activate it. In the end though, despite the inherent danger, using appropriate techniques for the situation at hand, you can defeat enemies you normally wouldn't stand a chance against. Escape from a tight spot you normally wouldn't manage to get out of. Or if it comes to it, you would be able to do a whole lot more damage before going down." Tayuya responded at length.

"Okay, then one more question.. How do you mass produce these 'Chakra batteries'?"

"We use an artifact which we call the Statue of the Outer Path exactly for that purpose." the girl shrugged.. "If any additional questions comes up, don't push me for the answers.. I've already told you far too much."

"No worries. I'm done asking.." the Spectre replied as she started moving to the elevator.

"Ahem.."

"What?"

Tayuya gestured to the crate.. "Take off the armor and put it back in before you go."

* * *

Eventually, by the time they removed the armor and almost finished putting it back into the crate, Ashley took her leave and returned to her own bunk upstairs... leaving Tayuya to perform the finishing touches, and removing the canister from the armor and placing it back into the row next to the armor.

With that done, she eased the lid back into place and sealed it shut.

Luckily though, the nosy Spectre didn't find out about the armor in the crates' hidden compartments. It took a whole lot of work to set the seals into place so that no one would notice it without specific types of sensors.

She went to the back of the first crate to perform an inspection, just to make sure. Pressing a hand against the middle of the featureless plate and watched as it opened, revealing the armor within.

Unlike the type which she showed to Ashley, these ones were specifically made for Kalinin in mind. It doesn't cover as much, having been made to be fairly lightweight. But what made these things truly special?

Tayuya pulled what looked like a slightly rounded box-like container. The special thing about this one is that it can be used for storing Tailed beasts. And from there, the user of the armor places the box into the slot on the upper back of the armor.

Basically, any Kalinin can achieve powers akin to that of a Jinchuriki by wearing these armors, provided that they have a Tailed beast sealed into the container.

And that could pretty much mean that an old-style Jinchuriki would be able to become even stronger by adding an additional beast through the use of this armor.

The girl could not help but shudder at the thought of a being empowered by not just one, but _two_ Tailed beasts. A pretty terrifying thought.

Tayuya upon finishing the inspection inserted the box back in before closing the crate, redoing the seal and tightening it and moved to leave the hangar. Waiting for the elevator to come down before heading back up to the crews quarters and walked in the general direction of the bunk she left behind.

With that, she crawled into the bed's warm embrace and let herself fall back into the realm of sleep within a few short minutes.

* * *

And that's pretty much it for now unless I think of another extra before the release of Mass Effect 3.

Comments would be greatly appreciated. :)


	40. Chapter 40

Chapter 40.

* * *

Tireth, a planet with a few special characteristics of its own, including a tropical zone that is covered entirely by deserts, with forests only existing close to large bodies of water, or marshlands in the southern and northern hemisphere due to the planet's proximity to its brilliant blue star, Na.

On the planet surface, a series of outposts could be seen, dotting the surface in both the forest to the north and in the equatorial belt. However, the central base exist within the latter.. often referred to as Tireth Primar. Though the Kalinin who leads one of the most audacious projects in recent times, funded by the Citadel, often jokingly referred to it as Sunagakure 2.0, due to its sandy location _and_ focus on technological development for military purposes. It is also linked to various facilities spread out into surrounding systems and clusters, all equally as secret as those on Tireth. All aligned with the rapidly growing Oroc Corporation. Its emblem basically that of the Citadel-aligned Kalinin.

The current area of most noteworthy activity happened to be the training grounds in Tireth Primar, where hundreds of soldiers and officers that had been chosen by the Council recently to undergo training in the usage of the first major product that are currently in the process of being mass produced, racing to meet the deadline in time for when the Council will finally bring recent developments to the eyes and ears of the public. Oroc Chakra Armor 1.0. OCA or Orocca for short. Once the first batch was made ready.

They would not say anything about the Reapers though. They still remained stubborn about that. But, they will wake up to it eventually.

Basically, those hundreds of people down in the training grounds would once finished training in the use of OCA split up to use the learnt knowledge to train preselected army groups in Citadel space that range from the thousands and into the tens of thousands. The Council wanted to equip at least one full division's worth of troops per species to become Orocca troopers.

Kabuto gazed at them from above with a smirk, watching even as he was being followed around by one of his alien Chief Scientists, Dr. Radaan from the Salarian Union, A dark purple-skinned one of his species, with vaguely red probing eyes. Though Kabuto have gotten mostly used to the galaxy beyond their original home world, a few things still baffled him.. such as the length of Salarian names. Instead of memorizing Radaan's full name, he insisted on using his clan name. Kabuto found his given name too hard to pronounce to use in a regular conversation.

Zetsu however did not have that problem at all. Remembering their full names with near-perfect accuracy, and uses them regularly in conversations. The Salarians crewing the facilities on this planet grew bemused because of this insistence.

"- And thanks to the recent shipments, the productivity of our factory complexes in site nine through twelve has risen by thirty percent."

He payed little attention to Radaan's reports. Except the occasional and quickly rectified complications, recent times have provided them with naught but good news, "So everything is according to schedule."

"Yes. It's most gratifying."

"Indeed. However, try to make them hurry up. I'd like to have every facility increase productivity by a significant percentage." he knew it was only a matter of time before the Reapers' arrival. Shepard managed to buy precious time with his latest stunt, blowing up a mass relay at the cost of an entire Batarian-controlled star system. But for how long? They cannot waste any time.

Radaan tilted his head slightly, and winced at the ruckus downstairs as one of the 'rookies' erected a rock wall right below her feet, sending the unfortunate caster flying through the air.. "C-certainly, but we got to be careful. Too much activity could attract pirates."

"If pirates start coming, destroy them. No prisoners." Kabuto replied, unfazed by the occasional accidents down on the training fields. "Our transports enjoy adequate escorts. I doubt that a few bumbling pirate scum are beyond their capabilities."

The Salarian formed an expression resembling that of concern, "Yes."

"Any news on Station One?" Kabuto wondered. Having followed directions given by the Maker inside his mind, he and an accompanying expedition managed to locate an ancient Maker shipyard, one of those that were used to create the Chakra relay stations and the ships that protected them until available resources were depleted. The Engineer among them who had long since disappeared managed to hide it away inside the ring system of a gas giant close to the border to the Terminus systems.

Several expeditions had been launched next to other coordinates in additional efforts to recover Maker artifacts. The Citadel relocated the one they referred to as Station One to an undisclosed location. They also managed to procure the resources from firms who's names are being kept confidential. Supplying organic matter to the shipyard so it could once again start the production of Maker ships. Primarily of the types that were seen in the fight against the Chakra relay stations, though a few _will_ stand out.

Basically, thanks to Station One, the Citadel are now capable of producing a fleet of UAVs. Although, they did not know that the ships required a special Central Processing Unit each that aren't created alongside the ship. It normally require a separate facility to create, followed by the insertion of this 'core' the moment the ship grows to a certain point. Ones that the Kalinin will be more than happy to produce and provide without the Council's prior knowledge.

Madara and Black Zetsu recently went on a trip with a few servants, who's loyalty is absolute. Courtesy of the 'modified' Aburame clan member under their control. Their destination; Kalin 3, to recover what remains of the Zetsu army deep inside the main Akatsuki hideout. With a few modifications, they will serve that purpose perfectly.

With them and Tayuya out on their missions.. only he, White Zetsu and the controlled Shinobi, Shino and Darui, remained here. Though the latter ones have been placed into stasis for the time being. The coffins containing Kaidan and Saren had been given over to the Citadel Council. Kabuto could tell after the revelation that the Council were immensely disturbed and surprised by his ability to revive the dead. Some circles associated with the Council were already toying with the idea of reviving specific people that died a long time ago. Scientists, philosophers, prominent politicians... Kabuto could not help but be amused.

Radaan looked over the data on his PDA, "Production continues at adequate levels. Ninety 'Ship-seeds' were recently produced in rapid succession." Ship-seeds, basically the starting form of Maker ships. Depending on how well-maintained the logistics are, the amount of time required for the ships to become fully grown varies from days to weeks. Months if logistics turn for the worse.

Kabuto didn't need to worry about the latter though, for now, "Good, you may leave. Keep me informed of further development."

Dr. Radaan nodded, "Of course, sir." before he left through the door they came through. Kabuto remained where he stood, leaning against the rail as he watched the training grounds.

Down in the firing range, many stood in lines, clumsily forming the necessary hand seal and the following selection process, including the movements required to deploy Ninjutsu, destroying both static and mobile objects.

Genjutsu however required them to duel one another to see the effects. Using Genjutsu on target dummies are nothing but a waste of time and effort. A few of them could be seen falling to the ground in ways that could only be explained by successful use of illusions.

Taijutsu required a little bit of both. Against dummies, and duels amongst themselves.

An obstacle course could also be found nearby for the use by rookies sufficiently proficient in the use of OCA. But it's nothing like what they're used to. It was structured specifically to make it impossible to complete without using Jutsu.

…

However, throw in anything that might resemble competition.. and the occasional few's base desires to rise above ones peers outstrips their own capacity for reason. Becoming arrogant pricks or bloodthirsty idiots who thinks they are better than everyone else.

Kabuto could actually feel it right before he saw the person that fit the description to a "T". He did not care all that much about the well being of aliens, but if too many start being too reckless with OCA use, he'll be the one getting blamed by the Council. With that, he quite bluntly chose the quickest route down to the training grounds far below; and jumped.

* * *

Down in the training field, one particular duel was turning much more violent than what one would expect from a sparring match as the Turian of the two punched his Asari sparring partner with full force, chuckling as he marveled at how far he sent her flying. But he offered her no chance of recovery as he made the hand seal, and entered the Taijutsu list, bluntly having Chakra fed into his lower body and back before he charged and dealt a kick against her abdomen.

The Asari coughed blood onto the ground as she crumpled before him. But still he refused to stop, the alien stepped to the side and added a kick to her side, sending her a full three feet off the ground before she landed again, coughing a plea for him to stop.

"Hey! Knock it off!" a nearby trainer shouted. Many fellow officers nearby becoming increasingly alarmed as the initially 'innocent' match turned to the worse. But few dared to intervene.. Two Salarians attempted to restrain him by the arms.. but in response, the Turian simply had Chakra fed into his arms and back before he promptly threw them off.

"Why stop? I feel incredible!" the Turian hissed malevolently as he cracked his knuckles with glee. Unlike the rest, he kept feeding more of the energy into himself like an addict. To the point that it practically oozed from his body and armor, tinting the air around him bright red.

The factory dedicated to the production of Chakra batteries uses the Statue of the Outer Path to fill the containers with what is essentially Tailed beast Chakra. Hence the red color.

He carried the thought of beating down those who tried to stop him.. but decided to continue crushing his victim who lied curled up on the ground, clutching her abdomen while blood flowed almost freely from her mouth. He raised a fist, flashing a bloodthirsty smirk as he was about to strike.

But the Turian failed to perform the punch as a solid hand grabbed him by the wrist, "Staff-sergeant Harn, I presume?"

Harn looked over his shoulder, and found himself looking at the creator of the OCA.. "Whoa.. what's wrong? I'm just giving the pathetic bitch a little piece of my mind!"

Kabuto adjusted his glasses with his free hand, "Normally I wouldn't mind the bloodletting, but this is not the place for it." he told the Turian with a firm voice, "You there, get her to the infirmary."

The Salarians from before were quick to do so as they fished the wounded Asari up from the ground and carried her away.

The Turian quite obviously did not like this intrusion as he pulled his arm out of Kabuto's grip, "How about I smash your face in instead, four-eyes?" Harn asked as he stepped away before turning to challenge the man.

Kabuto simply shrugged, "If you insist. But first I need to remind you of something. You should stop letting Chakra flow freely. Did you not pay attention to the briefing?"

"Bah, I'm better than this lot!" Harn shouted before charging in, attempting an elbow thrust. But Kabuto leaned against the coming blow and blocked it with his forearm.

"Keep thinking that and your sanity will deteriorate. I can already see it starting... And unless you stop it, it'll continue until your mind are reduced to that of an animal."

Harn muttered an expletive under his breath and jumped away, switching over to Ninjutsu. "Shut your mouth!" he selected the Jutsu and took a deep breath before sharply exhaling, conjuring a massive fireball that blasted off in the Kalinin's direction.. and it seemed to hit as it detonated, nearly blowing away those nearby with the sheer force of the ensuing shock wave. But Kabuto was nowhere to be seen.. even as most of the smoke cleared away, "Hah, how did you like _that_?" he asked triumphantly.. but gasped in pain as something suddenly grabbed his left ankle, the muscles within quickly being sliced apart by some weird cutting force.. "G-gah!"

That was followed by something bursting up from the ground behind him, followed by a sharp blow to his neck before he could even see what it was, "You have made good progress in the use of your Chakra armor.. But right now, you're dealing with the real thing." Kabuto whispered to him dangerously as numerous snakes shot forth from the sleeves around his right arm and curled around several places across Harn's body before the Kalinin proceeded to pull him off the ground and slammed him into the nearby wall.. knocking him unconscious.

Kabuto did not wait before he approached the Turian and uncoupled the Chakra battery from his armor, "Take him to the infirmary too, and then have him go through an intensive therapy session. He might still be salvageable."

Nearby trainers quickly hurried over to pick Harn off the ground and hauled him away.

With that done, Kabuto breathed a sigh and stuffed his hands into his suit's pockets as he regarded the other aliens now watching, "Let that be a lesson. Releasing Chakra continuously and recklessly like Staff-Sergeant Harn did _can_ and _will_ harm your mind no matter of how strong you think you are. The only situation you may do so is during emergencies where your life is fully at stake."

He paused for effect as the various aliens whispered among themselves, "I'll just make this clear.. There are always a risk involved when you use something. If you don't use your tools correctly, the tools you rely on will bring you harm. Short, controlled bursts of Chakra, that's more than enough to perform techniques, do not go thinking otherwise. Keep these words in mind as you go back to your training - Dismissed." he finished before moving to exit the training fields while the aliens across the area slowly went back to practise.

"Seems like you didn't need my help after all." Commander Turn, of the Turian Hierarchy, commented as he approached Kabuto by the exit.

The Shinobi scoffed lightly, "I don't need help. You and your forces are just here to defend the facilities."

"And to keep an eye on you guys, don't you forget that fact." Turn whispered.

"Huh, how could I _possibly_ forget?" Kabuto put it dryly before he checked his watch. Still time before he have to deliver the next status report to the Council. They kept a tight leash, but nothing that is impossible to maneuver around, "Oh, well. Need to get going now.. Make sure no one else start to think too highly of themselves."

Turn frowned deeply, "Yes." he responded in the affirmative, if only because he knew the harmful effects that Chakra can bring in excessive amounts. He was one of the first to don the OCA after all, and have become very proficient at its use. Turn stood there, watching Kabuto leave before turning to the 'rookies'.

Never a dull moment in this place.

Minutes later, plus the time wasted in an elevator, he was back in his own personal office. The man sat down by the desk and brought up the console, entering the password in order to bring up the special project forged from an intensive study of ancient plans that the Makers attempted to realize, but couldn't. One that will require an enormous amount of work, and much of the materials which will only be possible to gather in the upcoming war, to realize. But once completed, can potentially ensure Kalinin dominance over the stars.

And as the computer accepted the password and opened the program.. a name appeared in the middle of the display.

_Project 1409: the Heaven's measure._

* * *

It proved to be quite a sight. The view almost overwhelmed them at the very first glance as they looked out through the window while the freighter they stowed themselves away on made its final approach to what could be just one of many docking areas in the massive city-carpet of pearl-white buildings that stretched into the distance in every direction. The teens tried to prepare them for this, but as always, it needed to be seen to be believed.

Kakashi marveled at the sight, only able to maintain a modicum of composure.. his lone visible eye faintly tracking the extremely numerous trails of light that came with intense traffic. It was first when the sun rose up in the horizon that the city appeared truly huge.

One thing's for sure, the cities at home could not even hope to hold a candle to that of this Earth-city. "W-whoa." was all he could say.

"Indeed." the Raikage simply mumbled, just as fascinated by the view as the other. A stunned silence followed as neither could find further words that matched what were going through their minds.

"_Attention crew, prepare for docking procedures."_

"That's our cue." Kakashi noted after the announcement, "Ship and docking crews will be all over the ship in just a few minutes from now."

A turned and walked away, "Go to the airlock and make sure the area's secure, I'll go fetch the others."

Kakashi responded in the affirmative as he hurried to the closest airlock. Fortunately, no one's in sight. Human, or otherwise. It seemed like the road's clear. The Jonin leaned against the wall as he waited for the rest.

Three weeks.. This trip to Earth took them three long weeks. So many days of searching for a way to get here without being noticed. In the end, they infiltrated a station and stowed themselves away on this freighter. Most of the others had to stay back on the Lance of the Six Paths and wait for them to get back.

Nagato and Kisame however had little choice but to wait for a freighter specifically heading for Huygens dome to come by.. Hopefully they're on their way right now.

He breathed a sigh and brushed some dust off his sleeves.. since the Zeus station, he had managed to acquire some clothing in the form of a leaf-patterned mask, and a navy blue Alliance uniform. Difficulty finding clothes left them little choice but to take what they could find. The Raikage had to settle for a bright orange overall with a white shirt underneath. Shoes with the right size proved a little harder to find.

"Whoa, so this is Earth, huh?" Kakashi could hear Naruto comment in awe as he and Hinata, following Killer A, walked past the window.

A series of heavy metallic clicks could both be heard and felt all around them. Hinata took a quick look with her Byakugan, "The ship just finished docking. A lot of people are coming in."

"Then let's go." The Raikage rumbled as he moved to the airlock and devoted himself to showing the humble airlock the proud Kumogakure tradition of egress, by smashing through it with a brutal punch, before kicking the remains of it along with pieces of the surrounding hull away with a following kick.

Naturally, this raised a pretty loud alarm, quickly followed by the artificial voice belonging to the ship's VI alerting the crew about the sudden hull breach.

"Admirable subtlety, A." Kakashi noted with some sarcasm.

But the Raikage simply huffed before he leaped out of the opening he created.

"Alright, here I go!" Naruto called out before he jumped as well.

In the distance, the two remaining Shinobi on board could hear the sound of people approaching their position, "Hinata, go ahead!"

"O-okay." the girl responded before she jumped down. The Jonin only remained on board long enough to throw a paper bomb into the hallway, which exploded just as he threw himself off the ship, covering their escape as smoke billowed out through the opening.

It took him a moment to understand just how far they are from the ground. The street below them resembled a mere couple of narrow lines. Pure dumb luck to end up with a dock so far above ground.

But neither he nor those below lost their composure, spreading their legs to slow down their descent while maneuvering towards the wall of the building, which seemed to be nearly featureless.

One by one, they focused their Chakra along their hands, elbows, hips and underneath their shoes. Not enough to outright stop their descent, but enough to slow them down. Instead of falling, they chose to slide down. Upping the adherence to the wall as they got steadily closer to the ground.

Kakashi felt mildly worried. Compared to the that of the Raikage.. not to mention the teens, both of whom are Jinchuriki, he possessed relatively small amounts of Chakra. And thus, he had to be noticeably more careful about his expenditure.

Deep down, the Jonin hoped they wouldn't pull unwanted attention.. glancing to the left just in time to see a Human beyond a window dropping her soda to the floor. And she was probably not the only one in the building who happened to see them practically slide down the wall of a skyscraper with no visible equipment of note.

Quite bluntly, to the locals it looked like the four of them were committing suicide.

Sliding like this, it took ten minutes before they all launched themselves off the wall and onto the street below once they passed the line of twenty feet above ground. And of them, the Raikage was the only one to stand up firmly right after landing. Naruto walked around in a rather wobbly manner, though already recovering. Hinata fell to her knees, panting softly from the effort. But Kakashi himself sat down, having spent a large amount of his Chakra over the course of these last few minutes alone.

"N-next time.. find a lower docking area." Hinata sighed and wiped a hand across her forehead.

Naruto chuckled at that, "Yeah, that _was_ a bit over the top."

"It can't be helped." A noted gruffly, "Cover your eyes, girl. the natives are staring." neatly swinging the topic away from the fact that they were stowaways, considering that there's a lot of people within earshot.

Hinata understood the reasoning behind that order, but did not have anything to cover her eyes with, until Kakashi provided her with a pair of sunglasses, which was just one of many accessories taken from before they boarded the freighter. He kind of guessed it would come to this.

The girl thanked him as she accepted the sunglasses and put them on, though uncomfortably.

The Raikage was about to say something when Naruto dashed on ahead, maneuvering through the crowd that slowly resumed its everyday flow as daily routines assumed control, "Hey guys, over here!" he called out over it all.

Curious about whatever the boy just found, the rest approached his position.

Hinata got there first, "This is...?" she asked, having found Naruto standing there in front of a terminal featuring what looked like a map of the city.

"Asked one of the natives for directions, but he only told me to see this thing." Naruto explained, having done just that. "Now then..." he continued before fishing up a PDA from underneath his jacket.. and hovered a finger over the buttons on the device, with the intention of downloading the map.. but halted as he emitted a nervous gulp, "Erm... you do it."

The girl accepted the PDA and moved in closer, starting the download.

The adults showed up shortly, having walked through the crowd in a more leisurely manner, "What have you found?" Kakashi asked.

"A map of this city." Naruto replied with a grin.

"Download, complete." the girl announced, turning to show the rest as a an image of the city showed up on the PDA's display.

"Where can we find Shepard?" the Raikage asked, scrutinizing the image.

Hinata shook her head, "I don't know." she began to rapidly type in commands for any place she could see potentially housing Shepard's trial, "But... I've found about ten potential locations."

"Then we'll check each and every one of them until we find him." A rumbled, "What is the location of the closest one on your list?"

The Hyuga frowned slightly as she checked.. "Um, that way." she pointed in the specific direction.

"Alright, take point."

"Y-yes." Hinata tightened her grip around the PDA before launching herself into the air, onto the closest lamppost. Gesturing for them to follow as she moved on ahead. Naruto and the rest promptly followed.. There are much ground to cover, so they did not have any other choice but to hurry with all possible speed.

Unknowingly to them, though not entirely unexpected, several far-away star systems started to go dark. One after another.

* * *

And that was chapter 40. And the last one for now until the release of the ME3.

Comments would be very welcome.

As for continuation, I'm still indecisive on whether to continue posting further chapters here, or to invest the next chapter and onward from there into a sequel.

Oh, and Happy new year.


	41. Chapter 41

Chapter 41.

And so, finally at ME3.

* * *

Despite having visited numerous alien locations in the past, a dome city's still a daunting place with its closed environment and crowded conditions. Around them, crowds of people swarmed on each their business. Though many were starting to congregate to watch the news in local areas. Some hurried over to the communication hubs which were already suffering from faulty connections, as if something's disrupting or destroying communication buoys across the system.

But unknown to the human majority of the population, two Kalinin walked among them. Readily minding their own business, just like most other people. A live broadcast from a nearby tavern caught their attention as they walked past it; "- We ask that people remain calm until the identity of unknown vessels are clarified via secured channels. For now Huygens dome and associated terminals will operate on radio silence until the situation is clear."

They did not get the rest as they simply moved on. Needing to get to the local docks relegated to Alliance military units in the area. Eventually, one of them spoke up: "Unknown vessel that news anchor said." Kisame noted in a placid manner, rolling his eyes in Nagato's direction. "What do you reckon that is?"

"I don't know." Nagato shrugged, not seeing any reason to care about it before it becomes an actual tangible threat within arms reach, especially not now that their destination's within sight, "Maybe it's just batarians beating on the war drum. Better than the alternative. Shepard did quite a number on them, you know."

"Then I've got to say I'm feeling very pessimistic about this." Kisame drawled in a scratchy whisper, "Everyone coming here would have to get past Arcturus first."

They passed yet another throng. The folks uttering complaints about ships not being allowed to leave the dome.

"All we needed." his voice laced with sarcasm.

Nagato did not seem worried though, approaching the front entrance to the Alliance docks. A group of guards surrounded it, glaring at the two peculiar individuals. One of them, a human male, tilted his head to the side as if listening to something. A surveillance camera up above blinking a red light. Maybe an alarm. Nagato slowed down, "We're supposed to meet with someone here." he told them bluntly, not dragging this on at all.

The humans did not seem to pay attention until the one sitting at the desk gestured for them to come over, which they did. The clerk keeping his eyes on the screens as the Shinobi stepped past a more or less concealed scanner, confirming them as Kalinin as energy readings spiked. "I apologize for the inconvenience. We just needed to make sure."

"Whatever. Where do we need to go?" Kisame inquired, only annoyed in the faintest sense.

The clerk gestured with his left thumb at an elevator. "Sub-level five. I'll let them know you've arrived."

"Much appreciated." Nagato thanked as he and his companion left the desk for the elevator far in the back of the subsequent chamber.

The journey down did not take long. Most Kalinin had learned to despise elevators by now, but this one was comfortably swift. It only took a few seconds to clear the whole distance before the door opened to reveal an extensive storage room that seemed to stretch on and on. Only the lights that lined the roof prevented it from being swallowed in darkness. More humans could be seen inside, several waltzing around to complete their tasks. On the far side a freight elevator could be seen. Otherwise, crates could be seen covering the walls, with a few vehicles besides. Two of them UT-47s.

Nagato and Kisame left the elevator and wandered straight across the open area until finally someone appeared ahead of them. A young girl. It was their first time meeting her, but they had some information about this one due to very old information from Zetsu years before the invasion.

"Tayuya, I presume." Nagato said simply, "Former errand girl of Orochimaru if I recall."

The girl frowned, "The same. Though I serve Lord Kabuto now."

"Heh." Kisame chuckled, "Sure got far, that kid."

"More than that, I'm sure you know." Tayuya brandished the badge on her uniform. "Strange how fast things can change in the world."

"So we see." Nagato narrowed his eyes, "Anyway, we've come. What is it you have for us?"

The girl grinned and turned to approach something seemingly out of sight until she grabbed hold of something that flowed like cloth until she cleared it from an orderly pile of crates, "An offer. Lord Kabuto sees the threat posed by the Reapers, and are offering the items contained within these crates. Some of them made for Shepard and his crew in mind. While some are for you."

"And what is that?"

"Chakra armor. Protective armor that can supplement your combat capabilities." she closed the distance between them, leaning slightly closer to Nagato, "And special armor in the back. Renders traditional Jinchuriki nearly obsolete." she whispered, sounding for a moment like a saleswoman at some sleazy shop.

"Oh...?" Nagato asked without batting an eyelid.

"Can't show you those items. Not here, too many eyes watching. It's been made and delivered under the table. Manuals are inside, so you'll learn how to use it without the guidance of outside forces."

Kisame wasn't so subtle on the other hand, "Wait. Hold it. Am I hearing things.. Or have Kabuto and his ilk decided to help us power up? Why would you do that? We're not exactly buddies."

Tayuya sighed, casting a glance over her shoulder before answering, "These are extraordinary times, you know."

"The Reapers.." Nagato observed.

"...Yes." the girl promptly responded, "If they win, then there won't be a tomorrow. And for now, your group represents the bulk of our species." she explained, "Lord Kabuto, and the rest of us would prefer for our people to live on and repopulate."

"But I guess he won't settle for just that." Kisame told her.

The lights in the ceiling blinked once, making them throw glances at it, "He's got plans, but in the end; the welfare and continuation of our species are his top priority." the girl replied after a pause. Not revealing any further information on the subject.

However, neither Kisame nor Nagato seemed to believe in the girl's explanation much. There's something dirty smeared across the wall, but there's something in the way.

The lights blinked a second time, making those withing the room feel rather uncomfortable. The last thing the Shinobi within the room wanted was for a Reaper to come digging for them, _if_ that's what's causing it. And the machine's not the only threat. Potential exposure to the inhospitable environment beyond the dome that protected the city wasn't a pleasant thought either. Alas, the place suddenly shook mildly, offering little in the way of reassurance. Everyone stood still, gazing at the ceiling. Half-expecting it to come crashing down. But the rumbling came slowly to an end.. five seconds passed in silence before another quake was felt.

"Shepard's brand of luck must have rubbed off on us." Kisame groaned so softly that he did not push any air at all.

Nagato rolled his eyes, "It probably did a long time ago." starting to move in the direction of the crates, "Nonetheless, we should pick up the wares and be on our way."

"An array of light arranged itself around Tayuya's right arm. An Omni-tool. Kisame eyed it warily. Very few Kalinin have even touched such tools.. but Tayuya seemed fairly skilled with it... or at least skilled in the basic sense as she danced her fingers slowly across it. "Shit."

"Shit. What." Nagato mumbled as he plucked out a sealing scroll and Quickly unfurled it enough to reveal the first sealing symbols and put it down on the floor in front of the first crate, forming hand signs to seal it away.

"Certainly ain't batarian." Kisame mumbled observantly as he stepped closer to the girl and peered at the image that appeared above the tool.

Tayuya was mildly bewildered, "Don't tell me... this is..."

"A Reaper. Shape's different from the Ten-tails, but it's similar... and smaller."

Nagato finished sealing away six crates by then, working from container to container. "A Reaper... where's it heading?"

"Here." Tayuya replied with no small amounts of discomfort, "And it's just one of dozens. Most are headed for Earth.. but this one's coming here."

He halted for a moment before continuing with further haste. "That's... going to be a problem."

"That's a bit of an understatement." Kisame replied quietly. "Kakashi and the rest may still be down there."

"I know. Nothing we can do from here." Nagato told him flatly, "They're tough, should be able to handle it."

Kisame narrowed his eyes as he tore them away from the image, "It's like having Mordin around again."

"Pardon?"

"Never mind."

The place started to rumble a little more as an announcement came, "Alert. Exterior dome's under attack from unknown enemy. All civilians evacuate to shelters.. Alert. Unknown synthetics have penetrated into the city, all combat personnel stand-to!"

"Synthetics. Husks probably." Nagato mumbled as he finished sealing away the containers and furled the scroll, placing it into the closest convenient pocket on his suit.

"Yeah. We should probably leave before it gets worse."

"Warning, exterior dome's damaged." the announcement came next.

Kisame sighed in mild lamentation, "It got worse."

"Calm down. There's always a way out."

"What about...?"

"No time. Find a ship so we can leave, then link up with the rest. The Lance of the Six Paths are too far away, but we can possibly reach the others. We just need to know where Shepard's at."

"The Specter named Ashley, who came here with me, went to Earth a little while ago. Most likely she'll know where he is." Tayuya suggested.

"Good. Lets get going."

* * *

"Not here either?" Kakashi asked tiredly. They had been trekking around this confusing cityscape for hours on end, and still haven't found Shepard's location.

Hinata shook her head, having scanned the place with her Byakugan. Sighing as she deactivated the technique and sat down and looked over the map. "With this... we only have one place to look. On the far side of the river, that way." she gestured in the general direction.

"Yo!" Naruto chimed in as he returned, carrying some newly bought food in his arms. "These things here's a local delicacy. They call 'em hot dogs and hamburgers." and sat down with the rest, handing out the food, and a pair of bottles they would have to share.

A frowned as he accepted one of the so-called hamburgers. "Basically, it's a piece of ground beef sandwiched by buns." he observed briefly.. "And they called this a delicacy? More like cheap quick food."

"Fast food." Hinata hummed as she took a bite from a hot dog and chewed searchingly.. "Tastes decently though." the girl said before swallowing the bite, and taking another.

"Cheap." A muttered, blinking slowly as both of the youngsters leaned forward to peer at Kakashi, who was quick to turn away before starting on his hamburger. "What are you doing...?" he asked with exasperation, so softly that it might as well had been an idle thought.

Naruto leaned back with some measure of disappointment before looking up to scan the crowds around them. "So, what's this city called."

"Vancouver." Hinata replied.

"Sounds dull." the boy replied with his mouth comically full.

Hinata giggled briefly at his expression more so than the reply itself, "... Yeah."

They quietly sat there as the crowds of natives slowly activated as news started pooling in about a threat approaching the planet. But none of the Kalinin were anywhere close enough to hear the news broadcasts. And thus were left to formulate their own thoughts as the people transformed from a regulated and orderly chaos, and into a genuine uncoordinated chaos where many started to simply scatter or come apart. Those who hadn't heard the news watched in bewilderment as everything orderly were dismantled and tossed to the wind like a plague.

"This... doesn't look promising." A noted slowly.

Far above, what seemed like small meteorites punched through the clouds and crashed into the city, causing less damage than expected. But each impact was followed by a cacophony of screams and gunshots. The Shinobi all fell back behind the bench they sat at as one hit the street, barely twenty feet away.

Smoke and aggressive fires erupted in the wake of the impact, followed by the appearance of hideous creatures, batarian husks with what appeared to be human corpses for arms, crudely wrapped around some sort of weapon. One of them emitting a howl that finally got a stunned audience to move as the chaos evaporated in the favor of an orderly run, directly away from the monsters.

"Erk... so much for lunch." Naruto said, rapidly losing his appetite at the sight. A and Kakashi discarded their food as well out of disgust. In direct contrast, Hinata just finished stuffing in the last piece of the portion she had been given before looking up at the turbulent sky. There seemed to be something blackened beyond the now-turbulent clouds, giving her a bad feeling.

But she did not need to say anything, "Bah.. We don't have time to waste on these abominations." A muttered.

"A's right. Hinata, you're sure Shepard's that way, across the river?" Kakashi asked.

"I don't know.. but it's the last location on the list." the girl replied, making it clear that she's _not_ sure. For all she knew, they're in the wrong city entirely. But the appearance of a ominous shape in the sky did not allow room for further conversation.

The Raikage did not waste any time as he moved on ahead, smashing his way through the closest group of husks – pulverizing them utterly, before scaling a nearby building. The others moved to follow, but Naruto lagged noticeably behind..

"This isn't right, we shouldn't leave these people. They'll die without help." the boy argued, watching as the husks below began attacking the more helpless natives, quickly slaughtering the few that carried weapons before starting to brutally herd the populace.

Hinata hurried back and grabbed him by the wrist, her Byakugan on, "I... I know how you f-feel. But we can't protect them right now. There's several Reapers coming down at us, and there's several thousand husks around us already.. their numbers still climbing." she pointed at a large screen that was placed at the side of a distant building; displaying other cities under attack.. "Right now... we can't handle them."

The boy paled somewhat as he clenched and unclenched his fists, "What, are we going to do nothing?"

"No." Kakashi answered as he came back for them, "First, we find this Shepard. Then we'll decide on what to do." another batch of meteorites struck the nearby streets, belching out even more husks. Several Reapers could be seen descending towards the city in their wake. "Now, lets move."

A scream from below almost made Naruto leap down despite his comrades' protest, until Hinata embraced him from behind, keeping him in place. "There will be a time to fight, but it's not now! Please, if we fight them now... we could end up throwing our lives away to the benefit of no one."

The boy was trembling as his desire to help was being slowly being ground into powder by the reality he's facing. And slowly, as the first of the Reapers landed – causing the area to shake as though the monstrous dreadnought had evoked an earthquake, the boy finally relented. Allowing the group to move forward.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Lance of the Six Paths had been hiding amidst the Oort cloud of the Utopia system in the Exodus star cluster for days, eagerly awaiting the return of the teams that went to the Sol system.

However, this long wait was broken by an hour of extreme activity as the system acted as host to a massive fleet of black ships that suddenly jumped in through the mass relay. And then promptly exited once the relay was realigned for Arcturus stream before leaving like a pack of rude guests. Though more than a few expressed relief at their departure.

"Can you confirm?" Onoki asked impatiently, sitting comfortably on his seat in the back of the ship's bridge. "Were those the Reapers?"

"Don't know." Shikamaru groaned. He worried just as much as the rest concerning those in Sol if those truly _are_ the genuine article. "It's a possibility. They're huge and squid-like. Either they're Reapers, or some other species with bad taste in ship-design."

"Well.." Tenten whispered, who sat next to the boy, "Those did share several characteristics with the Jubi."

"Bad luck to have them come while we're so split up like this." the old man uttered with a shaking fist, though it was so small that the gesture did not make much of an impression.

The Nara's attention was pulled away from their discussion as several additional ships entered the system through the relay... but those sure as hell weren't Reapers. "I'm picking up Cerberus signals."

"Cerberus?" Temari breathed the question, who entered the bridge just as the boy announced it, "What about them? Are they here? Where are they going?"

"Whoa, girl. Relax." Tenten hushed.

"Detecting several ships with markings of Cerberus." Shikamaru told them, "They're heading for... Eden Prime."

"Huh, why?"

"What, am I a frigging mind-reader?"

"Funny that you mention that." Onoki whispered, "This could be a good time to gather some further intel on what Cerberus are currently working on. Go and check in the infirmary if the recently resuscitated Yamanaka are ready for a mission."

Temari blocked the exit right away, "You're not going down there without me."

"Fair enough. Tenten, you'll be the team leader of this assignment. Take Temari and the Yamanaka – or Hidan if she's not able, with you and recover as much intel as possible. And if you can, destroy whatever operations they're mounting on Eden Prime utterly."

Tenten stood at attention, "Aye, sir."

"And while you're down there. Try to find some resources we can use, Konan would appreciate a few bunks of paper." the old man noted as an afterthought.

"Naturally." the girl sighed, "We'll see what we can do."

Temari stepped aside to allow Tenten to move past her before following. Her thoughts landing squarely on Gaara as they moved through the ship, and gave a wave to Mei along the way who was preparing a meal alongside Konan for the humans on board. Those scientists had finished bringing Gaara back from the dead, but something went wrong in the last moment in a case similar to Shepard's. So now he's stuck in a coma.

And she could see him clearly on the closest bed as they entered the infirmary. Temari feeling a knot form in her gut by the sight, and the reminder that she could do nothing but leave him alone for now. Instead heading to the bed furthest away, where a girl with long golden hair sat peering down at a PDA, while a human stood close, leering at her.

Tenten was quick to wave the guy away, "Don't you even dare thinking about it. Get out of here and back to work, try that again and we'll know what to cook next." a threat that continued to to have no substance, but which got the message across just as well as earlier. The girl turned to the recovering Yamanaka once the scientist had been chased out of the room, "How are you feeling, Ino?" she inquired gently.

"Like there's a moon in my head. Is this for real?" she said. Having woken up from death, befuddlement's impossible to avoid. Waving the small and flat data-pad at them.

The fellow Konoha-nin placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "It's real. You're back."

"Doesn't mean you've become some kind of saint though." Temari noted.

"I... I see." Ino whispered, peering down at the image of what appeared to be a Hanar.

"Okay. We're about to head out on a mission, and we could use your help. Need some mind reading." Tenten told her, "Only if you feel like you've recovered enough to come along of course."

The Yamanaka devoted some thought into that, "I'm feeling just fine. And I need to see this new world for myself."

"Alright then." the other replied with an enthusiastic thumb up, "A little bit of homework then first." she tapped a series of buttons into the PDA, revealing a list of links concerning Eden Prime, Humanity, the Alliance and Cerberus. "There's so much you need to know.. but for now this will have to suffice. We'll leave for that planet in thirty minutes. So be ready for it."

Truthfully, Temari wished to lead, but begrudgingly admitted that of the three of them... Tenten's the best option to lead this ops. Being the one who's the most experienced one of the three of them concerning this whole new reality they're in, traveling the stars.

* * *

Back on Earth, the ground team faced an increasingly dangerous environment filled with Reapers and Husks. With civilians fleeing in wild fear from the invading forces, trying desperately to escape. And there was nothing the Kalinin could do to help with lasting effect. Windows of opportunities closed shut just as soon as they were opened. The Alliance tried to mobilize despite the now-complete lack of an orbiting fleet to aid in the planet's defense. Holes were blown through numerous points of the encroaching horde of husks, only for those weak points to close almost instantaneously.

The group had no choice but to move forward, running along the sides of skyscrapers and jumping across the roofs of lower buildings. But in the middle of this chaotic situation, this long dark tunnel, a tiny light appeared at the end:

"I found him!" Hinata called out to the others.

Kakashi moved to her side, "You mean...?"

"Shepard's over there. Fighting on the other side of the river!" pointing in the direction they needed to go. Kakashi could faintly see the flash of gunfire in the far distance.

"Right, move-" he fell silent as a Reaper appeared close by. Landing in the harbor area right in front of them. A small kind of Reaper, mind. A type that the races of the galaxy would soon refer to as Destroyers. Escorts of the far more massive Dreadnoughts. The group slowed down clumsily as the black construct nearly filled their view. Recovering from its decent to assail local forces in the immediate area. But it only took so long before they picked up speed again. "Quick, while its attention's elsewhere!" Kakashi called out, while making everyone drop to the ground below as they charged through the harbor, passing a ruined APC and a number of smoldering corpses along the way. Only veering out of their stubborn course as one of the Reaper's heavy legs stomped down hard at the area directly in front of them, causing the whole place to tilt towards the river.

But it seemed like A did not take kindly to deviations from his path as he raced for the machine's heavily armored foot, "What in the world are you... doing?" Kakashi's expression turned into one of raw disbelief under his mask at what happened next. "Oh, cra-"

* * *

He knew this day would come. Just not this soon. But no amount of preparation could have prepared him for the sight of his home world being torn apart by the Reapers. Feeling so completely helpless that he could do nothing more than to hold his ground here alongside Anderson, gunning down a bizarre assortment of husks, brought by the nightmarish Reaper armada.

They were many, but not particularly smart. Using cover in only the most basic sense, and making many mistakes while at it. Only seeing improvements from one of them, who stopped to feast on a fallen comrade before continuing the assault.

Shepard aimed down along the barrel of his rifle and squeezed the trigger, hurling a trio of bullets that put a decisive end to the improved 'Cannibal'. Quickly shooting down any of the other husks that attempted to approach the fallen bodies. Only increasing the number of candidate corpses for the rest of the Cannibals to use for self-improvement. His eyes focusing on the four eyes of one of them. He had only heard a few pieces of info concerning the fall of Kar'shan, the Batarian home planet. Most of its population probably converted into husks. Yes, the batarians are considered as enemies of humanity, but they did not deserve such a terrible fate. No one does.

"Hold the line, Shepard." Anderson's voice sounded so very distant, "The Normandy will be here soon."

Yes. The Normandy. But without the crew he needed now more than ever. They split up after he was taken into custody, and since then he lost track of them completely. Are their worlds also facing the same nightmare?

He glanced at the rifle as he pulled the trigger again, receiving a dull click in response. Promptly ejecting the heat sink before inserting a new one. It made him think of the clever seals he and the rest enjoyed the advantages of at the Collector base. Leading him to think of the Kalinin. Where are _they_ now?

The surroundings became nothing but noise as he fought practically on autopilot. His body acting by reflex, without his brain controlling his actions. Going from target, and then to the next. But he's going to run out of heat sinks at this rate if the husks continues to reinforce like this.

The ground trembled as another Reaper landed, right on the other side of the river. Seeing this, even if only from the periphery of his vision, he muttered a curse at his growing misfortune. Anderson could be faintly heard telling the Normandy to hurry before they're overrun.

Subsequently, the last heat sink was popped. The man watching it as it sailed through the air before hitting the side of the wrecked gunship's hull, right next to their position. He threw his rifle to the ground and pulled out the pistol instead, checking if its heat sink's still in. Three shots left. Damn.

One was quickly spent as he blasted it through the skull of a Cannibal that suddenly had the idea of rushing him. And there's more of them further away, more than a mere two shots can put down.

Is this it?

But then, something happened. He turned his gaze to the nearby Reaper as it suddenly engaged in a series of sudden erratic movements, shuddering once before it seemed to lose its balance, toppling over and crashing into the river as if it just tripped on something. And according to those constantly flickering lights across its hull, the thing had absolutely no idea what just happened. It just fell and proceeded to flail in the water, trying to get back up. Much like a turtle turned on its back.

He saw no more of it though, as the tidal wave created by its impact rose up, racing for the shoreline on the other side.

"Hold on!" Anderson cried out just before the wave hit them, and somewhere along the line as he held on for his dear life. Trying to keep himself from being washed away, several explosions hammered into the area nearby, in the direction of the husks. Quietly he hoped that this wave would take care of them.

But so much for hope, as a Cannibal burst through the water, reaching out to point its heavy arm cannon at his face. Both the batarian and the human husk wrapped around the right arm seemed to sneer at him, as if the Harbinger itself took control to finish him off personally.

But something else came out from the now-receding flow of water, the person in question holding a shining spinning sphere of energy in his hand that he proceeded to slam into the back of the Cannibal, "Rasengan!"

The husk seemed to twist and convulse as the attack grinded its way into its body, blasting it off into the air past Shepard once the sphere came apart explosively. On such a course even that made it hit the tail fin of the broken gunship along the way, which sheared it in half before it landed in the river in two separate pieces.

The boy in question - only momentarily covered in shadows, approached him and reached a hand out for him, "Shepard!"

"Naruto?" he called out with surprise, grabbing the boy's hand after a sliver of hesitation. Allowing the kid to pull him up from the water and back onto relatively dry land, "W-what are you doing here?"

"We came here to offer our support at your trial... but it looks like we missed it." Naruto replied, "Sorry about that."

"I'd say your timing's impeccable, kid." Anderson huffed with relief. "You brought everybody here?"

"No. Just a few..." Naruto said, gesturing to those behind him, thoroughly taking apart the few husks that remained standing. One Cannibal did not even stand a chance as a big brutish man crushed its head with very forceful elbow thrust. While another man's heading away from the fight after having impaled the last husk on his side of the scene on what appeared to be a bolt of lightning. Hinata quickly moved to Naruto's side, offering a polite bow.

"Glad to see you unharmed, Shepard." she said.

Shepard scratched the back of his head, "Thanks. But you shouldn't have come here."

"Just like what the youngsters said." the man with the cloth covering most of his face mentioned with some amusement, "But they wanted to come anyway."

"And you are...?"

"Ahem.. he's my old teacher, Kakashi Hatake." Naruto answered for him.

"... Old?" Kakashi neither looked nor sounded offended, but his shoulders slumped at that.

"And who's the big guy?" Shepard asked next, gesturing to the Raikage. Anderson took his time being diplomatic enough to shake Kakashi's hand.

"The old man's A, he's the Raikage. Or at least used to be." Naruto introduced him as well.

A reacted in a similar manner to Kakashi, except he did not slump... instead looking offended. "So you are Shepard." he gruffly spoke, giving the human a withering look. "I've heard much about what you've done from the rest. Much of it good. Needed to see for myself, the one who's the reason that our kind's still alive."

"My only regret's that I couldn't have discovered your world sooner." Shepard replied with an equally serious glance.

They held that eye contact for a few seconds before A muttered with approval; "Good answer. But still, you have my thanks."

Shepard gave him a nod as the Normandy appeared from above, circling lazily around those below before lowering itself into position to pick them up. Anderson however looked up at the military shuttles that hurried into the area, signs of the military seriously moving into the area.

"Anderson?" Shepard asked.

The man stood silent as if weighed down by his thoughts before turning to face Shepard with a number of dog-tags in his hand, "Consider yourself reinstated; Commander. I need you to go to the Citadel and gather all the support that you can."

* * *

And so the story continues.


	42. Chapter 42

Chapter 42

* * *

"That's it..." Tayuya soberly announced to those around her while the lights flickered once again, "Tried calling for help several times, but no reply. Long-range communication's down completely as far as I can discern."

"They're not messing around." Kisame half-snickered, keeping his voice low as they moved through a prolonged corridor. Slowing down whenever their surroundings seemed to tremble, as if reacting to some far-off demolition that shifted the superstructure across the entire city.

Nagato acted like the solid mountain, maintaining near-perfect calm. The ship most of the Kalinin call home are fairly enclosed, but familiarity made it comfortable. He simply tried to take that feeling and apply it to this place, though for obvious reasons it didn't quite take. "How much further?"

The situation wasn't going well. Only minutes ago, the announcements stopped abruptly after the detached female's voice ordered all remaining units to fall back and fortify themselves close to or inside the shelters due to an implacable husk presence. The only safe places now that the Reaper Destroyer is tearing its way into the city physically instead of relying on husks alone. Just a matter of time before the systems maintaining the basic necessities will start to fail. Life support, among other things.

To say the least, it wasn't the most pleasant state of affairs.

"Not much further." Tayuya replied, her voice lowering even further as they got to yet another sealed door, at which she waved her arms like it's not great an issue, "Don't worry, I've got clearance!" something she's been keen on reminding them at every such door. Everyone of Kabuto's organization seemed to have gained enough room for movement to qualify as pseudo-spectres. One of the only differences is that their actions are more closely supervised. The girl was quick to check if the area beyond the door hadn't lost its atmosphere before opening with some typing, and clarification of identity. They did not come this far, only to be vented into space. "And... voila." she finally added as door slid open, allowing them to continue.

Ahead, they found yet another storage room. It was nearly pitch black, with only a few scattered lights still functioning.. hinting that something happened here not long ago, "Smell that?" Kisame asked as he sniffed at the air.

Tayuya stopped in her tracks the moment she noticed the blood on the floor. And as their eyes got used to the deepened dark, they could faintly see the outlines of at least a dozen corpses nearby. With weapons and bits of armor scattered. Nagato knelt down next to the girl and checked the closest body to their position.

"These injuries weren't caused by bullets. Looks more like they've been done in by close-ranged weapons. Claws mostly."

"And that means..." Kisame grimaced, "There must be husks nearby."

Nagato stood back up slowly, "Stay close together. And be ready." he whispered as he moved on ahead.

The other two converged on him, and ended up with the girl standing between them, with Kisame walking in the back, having just hoisted his Samehada and resting it against his right shoulder. His grip on it tightening slightly. Listening intently for even the faintest sound. "Okay, girl. Where to?" he growled the question very softly.

"... There should be an elevator on the far side that leads into the hangar." she replied just as quietly, not even daring to open up her omni-tool to recheck the route up ahead.

The small group quietly maneuvered through the place, around the many crates and bodies throughout the place. Eventually arriving at and moving along the wall until they finally found what seemed to be the elevator Tayuya spoke of, this one built to transport cargo.

"This is the place." Tayuya said as she found the button and pressed it. Allowing the massive door to open.

"So far so..." Kisame muttered as he watched it open, "Shit!" he breathed hard, taking a step back along with the others as the elevator fully opened, the lights inside turning on to reveal a monstrous husk that towered over them all. He and Tayuya bracing themselves for an attack until Nagato approached it.

"Don't be afraid. It's dead." he leaned close to examine its head, which was basically a Turian skull... minus the lower jaw. The head placed on an elongated exposed artificial spine that led into a twisted body that faintly resembled that of a Krogan.

"Okay..." Kisame worded cautiously as he moved in closer to it.. "Looks like a husk created from two completely different species. How did the Reapers create such a thing?"

"I... really don't want to know that." Tayuya said in disgust as she activated the elevator, closing the door. A cacophony of noise erupting from the machinery around them as the thing slowly started to descend. Taking the three of them closer to where they needed to go.

But even over this noise, they could hear the emerging screeching sound of sharp metal scraping against plates. The Shinobi stepping away from the door as they came closer to the contraption's destination, keeping an eye on the door as the thing eventually stopped, and opened.

It was like a dam had been broken as a small horde of Cannibals and Husks spilled into the elevator, seeking to slaughter those inside. But they did not get far; "Shinra Tensei!"

The mindless charge was instantly turned around as sheer repulsive force sent all of these husks flying through the air, smashing them into various objects throughout the area. A few managed to get back on their feet, but most had been crushed beyond recovery.

The remaining ones turned back, and without hesitation exercised the insanity of doing the same again and expect a different outcome.

Tayuya's forte being Genjutsu, pulled her gun out and resolutely shot down the closest husk, killing it instantly. Kisame brandished his weapon and brought it clean through several Cannibals with a huge swipe. Nagato applied one last 'Shinra Tensei' and finished off the last ones in the immediate area. The three of them waiting in case more decided to pop up and attack, but no further retaliation came.

"Now then, lets hope this commotion did not just tip off the Reaper about us being here." Nagato commented with a slow glance directed at one last moving husk that eventually managed to appear from the back of a ruined vehicle, as it tried to advance by pulling its broken body forward by just the strength of its one remaining functional limb, but stopped and perished with one last spark of electricity.

Tayuya shuddered as he looked the hangar over, searching for a functional vessel. But it wasn't easy – the whole place had been trashed by the invaders. So she headed over to a nearby terminal instead, bringing up her omni-tool as well to help with the search. Taking a couple of minutes as the men watched her go at it until she cursed bitterly, "Damn it. Most of the shuttles' are ruined."

"We require only one."

"I fucking know. But the only shuttles available are old ones meant for maintenance staff, due to be scrapped. And they're nowhere fast enough to outrun anything if need to."

"Meaning it's a death trap." Kisame threw in with a turn of his head, "Always something.."

But of course, the world seemed to love piling up on bad news, proven further as a distant entrance was blown open, allowing what is essentially a full platoon of husks to march into the hangar like a synthetic freak show, angered by the lack of sold tickets. And amongst the marching mass, a creature like the one they saw back in the elevator stomped in, brushing past several lesser husks along the way.

Nagato frowned deeply as he and Kisame moved to engage, cursing their bad luck.

* * *

A pair of Assault troopers moved along the outer perimeter of the settlement that was the unfortunate neighbor of the local dig site. Keeping an eye on their surroundings, though there wasn't much left to see. The whole place had been devastated, and the corpses of slaughtered civilians could be seen everywhere as blood flowed freely enough to accumulate into shallow rivers. Alliance soldiers tried to head Cerberus off to allow for civilians to evacuate. But those died too.

Utterly ruthless, but it worked. No one's around to hinder their progress.

But there's always a certain calm before the storm. "Huh?" the trooper to the left coarsely half-coughed in alarm when his comrade's throat suddenly plumed as something big and sharp went right into it. "Who's there!" he raised his weapon, detecting movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned to shoot the target. Only to halt as what first seemed like a feminine figure had turned into a water cooler... somehow.

But he did not get the time to recover from this fleeting moment of confusion as an opponent unknown to the trooper sent a bullet through his head from behind at point blank range. The last thing he remembered was the slight tap of a barrel against the back of his helmet.

"Nice throw." Tenten complimented. Her approving gaze fixed on the SMG she just took from the former victim as he fell, having already used it to kill the other. "No matter how strong the armor, the joints are always the weak spots."

"I remember that well enough from the Geth." Ino dropped into view, having positioned herself on top one of the nearby habitation modules. "Still... it's a change. At least these enemies actually bleed."

"Yeah... those Geth gives me the creeps." Tenten replied in full agreement, choosing not to raise the topic about Legion for now. The Yamanaka's having a hard enough time to cope with this new world as it is, "Temari, where are you?"

"You're noisy." the Suna-nin complained as she appeared, dragging a third Cerberus trooper across the ground by his collar. Still alive from the looks of it, though unconscious. Obviously taken alive so that the Yamanaka can go digging through the man's brain. "Help me over here, this son of a bitch is heavy."

"Aye, coming." Tenten sealed away the gun before hurrying. And together grabbed the git by his arms and lugged him along. "Ugh... it really _is_ heavy." she breathed, "Ino, collect their weapons and heat sinks. And whatever else they got that ain't a part of their armor."

Ino's expression settled into a grimace, "Got it.." and started rolling around the bodies and searched them. Glancing at the others once as they pulled that other body into a nearby building. And followed them in, once she finished gathering what she could without burdening herself needlessly.

Inside, Tenten had already unfurled a scroll to seal the gathered items into. Temari stood guard at the other side of the room, just behind the kitchen bench, facing the other exit. Ino couldn't find it in her to understand why the humans insisted on adding _two_ doors to a house this tiny.

Not far away, the trooper could be seen, lying against the wall in a corner. The other girls certainly wasted no time tying him up after having placed him there.

She put down the stuff she took next to the scroll before approaching the trooper. "Okay, unless there's something else.. I'll just go ahead and take a dive." using a knife to cut away the bindings that's keeping the helmet in place before pulling it off with excruciating slowness.

Temari gave an encouraging nod before turning back to the exit with an analytical glare. A Mattock in hand, and held it rather uncomfortably while voicing a tiny complaint. Tenten muttered something about the creation of a new giant fan's going to take a bit more time to make.

Ino pulled off the trooper's helmet fully, and almost let out a shriek once his head was fully exposed. The man under the armor resembled a human being just barely. It looked like someone had grafted a significant amount of implants into him. Both the eyes and numerous lines across the head glowed as if coming from a ghost that's being kept prisoner within its own vessel.

Tenten shivered in disgust at the sight, "S-shit. He almost looks like a husk."

"What's a husk?" Ino asked slowly, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

"Machines that used to be people.." the other girl replied before cursing under her breath, "Something's not right. Cerberus is a pro-human group. Yet they're slaughtering human civilians, turning their own soldiers into... things... what the hell?"

Considering that, it _did_ make no sense at all. The thought of someone turning someone else into a machine terrified her. Ino tilted her head slowly while placing her hand against the trooper's head. "Okay... I'm going in: One... two... three; diving." she told them with forced calm.

The world vanished around her, and was instantly replaced by a huge and empty void. Empty except a huge brain that hovered in front of her. The Yamanaka wasted no time in swimming closer to the target, plunging her arm into it the moment she made contact.

It was like sitting in a chair, watching hundreds of screens that displayed a slideshow, showing moments of the person's life. Most of them innocent enough. Previously a colonist who wanted to get away from the Alliance, and thus moved to the Terminus systems. More than that she did not collect. Instead, she forwarded until pain almost overwhelmed her. The person in question was entering some sort of building, just one of a huge queue of people. From there she saw a sight that made her disconnect from the trooper's mind immediately, "Gah!"

"What is it?" Temari nearly demanded. Her eyes wide open in the Yamanaka's direction.

"This person... No, all of them. They were nothing but civilians just a short time ago. Cerberus used them as lab rats, turned them into this." Ino answered with a quivering voice, almost too afraid to touch the human again.

Tenten almost turned pale with horror. "Those... fucking hypocrites. Protectors of humanity my ass." slamming her fist against the floor where she sat.

The Yamanaka did not blame her for feeling so angry about it. She herself felt downright sickened by what Cerberus had done to these people. Treason is one of the worst offenses imaginable to a Shinobi. So the whole notion of someone betraying their entire race is beyond the pale. Horrific beyond description.

The other girl vented her anger until she finally managed to calm herself enough to form coherent words, "... Ino - please, do another dive. Find out what they're doing here."

Ino gave a solemn nod as she turned back to the trooper and reentered his mind to continue her search. Narrowing it down this time down to the last few days. Looking for even the slightest hint that might point them in the right direction.

Most of it seemed to be gibberish. Images of the traumatic conversion process he went through kept piercing through, damaging the girl's concentration as she had to try steering away from them.

Within the void, she carefully extracted scrolls from the brain and unfurled them to reveal more specific memories. Like scrolling through a stream of images that promptly came to life whenever she pressed a hand against them.

It felt like a small eternity had gone by before she finally found something regarding the purpose of Cerberus being here on Eden Prime. Finally getting results, Ino pressed in and absorbed as much information as she could before waking from her trance-like state. "A Prothean."

The other girls blinked. "Did you find something?" Temari inquired in interest.

"Yes. Cerberus came here because there's something in the local dig site that the Illusive man's interested in." the strange name did not tell the Yamanaka much. All she knew about the Illusive man came from the information Tenten supplied her with earlier. "They want to claim that certain something which was recently found by the local excavation team."

"And that is...?" Temari asked.

"A... life pod that contains a living Prothean."

Tenten seemed to recognize the word with great clarity, "Is that true? The people here found a real _live_ one?"

"That's what this guy's memories told me." Ino was slightly perplexed, "Do you know something about these... Protheans?"

"It's a long story. Most of galaxy sees them as the greatest benefactors of the galaxy, but the truth of much of it is... different. But right now, we better get a move on."

"So, what are our objectives?" Temari asked with a raised eyebrow.

Their team leader put some thought into it before answering; "This is what we'll do: Head to the dig site, find and extract this Prothean, and put every member of Cerberus we find along the way out of their misery. We'll do that and then get back home in time for supper, you with me?"

Temari and Ino responded with stark approval. And with a clear goal in mind, the team went to work with renewed fervor.

* * *

Shepard stood in the communications room, watching the holograms flicker and contort for a split second before firm, and coherent images were established. To the left – an image displaying the Earth appeared, which was covered in red dots that signaled Reaper presence.

The ship left Earth's atmosphere just minutes ago, its orbit filled with the wreckage of the fleet that attempted a largely fruitless defense. The distant view filled with large fireballs... Reapers surrounded by fire caused by the intense friction of atmospheric entry. Most ships larger than frigates could not even hope to do such a thing, but the Reapers breezed through the process without a hassle to say for it.

Shepard clenched his jaws while impatiently dragging his feet back and forth. If it wasn't for his reinstatement, and the subsequent orders, he would have chosen to stay on Earth. The images of humanity's home planet were detailed and terrifying with fires spreading across its surface. Especially in the heavily populated areas. And it is only going to get worse from here.

And here he now stood, waiting for Admiral Hackett to make the call he was told would come shortly. It seemed that the outer lines of defense survived thanks to Hackett's decision to preserve them for a better time. _A better time_. It sounded good, but left no small amount of bitterness in its wake. But Shepard recognized the necessity at least.. right now, the fleets of humanity could do absolutely nothing to stem the Reaper tide. Any fleet engagements without a considerable numeral advantage would simply end in a huge waste of life and material for no gain at all. Taking down Reapers are possible, but requires an inordinate amount of force. Death by a thousand cuts. What little information they got on Maker victories over a few lone Reapers served to confirm that fact.

He took a moment to look the others over, and met Ashley's eye along the way. Because of his time temporarily working with Cerberus, she did not trust him... not entirely. Ashley stared back at him as if she expected him to fulfill her worst suspicion at any moment. Her left hand resting on the holster on her hip, ready to pull out the weapon within if she deemed it necessary.

It felt like standing next to a loose cannon, or a ticking time bomb with a cold grudge against him.

The hulking Raikage stood in the back of the room, halfway facing the war room just beyond this one. His current expression almost impossible to discern where he stood in the shadows... listening grimly as the personnel in the neighboring room received bad news in abundance.

The one who wore the mask though, his lone visible eye remained on the holograms with utter seriousness. Standing fully rigid and paying attention. Shepard found him really hard to read. Maybe he's just that good at keeping his emotions suppressed.

The teenagers shined in their apparent absence, Shepard had been so focused on getting here that he did not notice them not being present. Last he saw them was when they all got on board... except Anderson, of course.

However, he did not manage to dwell on his thoughts for any longer as the holographic image of Admiral Hackett appeared, though riddled with static from the horrendous connection that resulted from losing so many communication buoys across the Sol systems and neighboring systems. The Normandy was probably one of the only places that still managed to pick up a signal. "Good to see you made it, Commander."

"It was close, sir." Shepard told him, "If it hadn't been for assistance from Naruto and the others, I wouldn't have survived long enough for the Normandy to arrive."

"Kalinin?" the Admiral recognized Naruto's name from conversations that he have had with Shepard between the recent trials and the more distant battle of Palaven. Slowly, his gaze wandered over to the individuals close by, "I see, thank you for assisting the Commander."

"You're welcome." Kakashi replied with a slight, but sufficiently polite nod.

"I'm curious though, how did you manage to escape from Huygens dome?"

Kakashi's eye widened at the question, but Ashley got her word in first; "What do you mean, sir?"

"I received word that the Kalinin you accompanied to Saturn completed the planned transaction less than thirty minutes ago. However, the Reapers attacked the city as it happened... and as far as I know, in between that and the complete loss of local communications, no ship had managed to leave the area."

"What transactions?" Shepard asked, confused.

"Kabuto sent an offer some time ago via an encoded message on the extranet." Kakashi informed him, "Something he wanted to provide for us. What exactly we don't know, but Nagato and Kisame went there to meet with whoever's waiting for them."

"And what precisely did he want to give? You didn't think it's a trap?"

Ashley shook her head, "There's no trap involved. The goods consist of Chakra armor, enough to equip a full crew. Courtesy of Oroc Corporation, and free of charge. Currently, it's being mass produced and provided for armed forces of every member race of the Council."

Hackett nodded to confirm as much, "They're not fully ready though. The Reapers arrived earlier than expected... not that the Council took the threat seriously before they finally arrived though."

"You're digressing from the main point right now." A coarsely said as he finally entered the conversation, "Fact is, we got people in Huygens dome that may need extraction, if they're still alive."

"I doubt they'll die that easily." Shepard said with some confidence.

The Admiral voiced his doubts, "But going there will be a momentous risk. If the Reaper's still there..."

"I won't abandon them, sir." the Commander did not hold his tongue on this. "If there's even the slightest chance of saving them, then we'll get it done."

Hackett nodded gravely, "I see. Then at least make sure you get away with your life and limbs in one piece. We will need your help in order to rally the galaxy."

"I won't let you down, Admiral."

The old man offered a smile, "Good luck, Commander. Just to be clear, you're only supposed to save a few people... not to blow up yet another star system." he added dryly.

"I'll try, sir."

A brief nod, "Hackett out." at which the hologram shut down as the communication ended. Shepard did not hesitate at all as he opened a channel to the bridge, "Joker, set course for Huygens dome."

"Roger that, Commander. Good to have your back, it was getting dull without a suicide mission once a day." the pilot replied through the intercom with a grin that could almost be felt as the Normandy changed course to its new heading.

* * *

Author note: Darn, that last part nearly became the end of me. Ended up rewriting it multiple times until finally coming up with something at the very least so-so.

Oh well. Nagato and the others keep running into difficulties. Tenten and her team's getting closer to the Prothean. And the Normandy's heading on another suicide mission.. question is, will Naruto cave in this time too... or will he take a little tour of the local dome city and kick some serious Reaper ass? Stay tuned.

And as you may have noticed by this chapter, the mission to Mars will perhaps be skipped in its entirety. Just something about it annoyed me. And the Crucible might, or might not make an appearance at all in this fic. All it did in the end was to provide the Catalyst with solutions other than the Reapers. Still, I'm rather indecisive about that right now.

Thanks for all the reviews! I really and truly appreciate it. :)

As for a few questions asked by reviewers, I'll go ahead and provide a few answers:

Deadzepplin: Hiruzen himself won't make an appearance. He's only referred to by name in light of some earthly possessions that provided information about past experiences of his. Like the Japanese do, the Shinobi cremate their dead, so there's no way anyone can revive him.

Byakugan789: The reason they're not doing that is that in a battlefield where there's basically no effective backup at all, filled with tens of thousands of husks and numerous Reaper Dreadnoughts/Destroyers both on the ground and in orbit; making a whole lot of noise that way is downright suicidal. Plus, it would have greatly endangered the Normandy, and Shepard by extension.

Sevenar: In terms of survival, yes. But the fate of galactic civilization would be little different than if they were all indoctrinated. The galactic eye wasn't meant to have an off-button. If it was completed, the galaxy could possibly have defeated the Reapers with relative ease. However, it also means that all species but one would exist as nothing but slaves.


	43. Chapter 43

Chapter 43

* * *

"The door's blocked!"

"Then let's make a new one.." the wall instantly collapsing as Nagato sent a Brute smashing through it – not far from the door itself, crushing several additional husks that were hiding inside the room in doing so. With the lack of results in the hangar, they fought their to the nearby Alliance tower.. With a new entrance open to them, Kisame went ahead to invade the interior of the tower. But his effort was stopped in its tracks as a group of marauders - husks that used to be turians, hurried into position and forced him out and away from the hole as the creatures opened fire, as if trying to replace the wall with a rain of bullets.

Having managed to get himself away in time, Kisame gestured lamely at this new and heavily improvised wall, "Try another hole then?" plainly ignoring the other husks dashing around the place.

"Find me another Brute, and I will." Nagato barked back at him before tearing a ruined shuttle from its tethers above and smashed it into another bunch of enemies with his bansho ten'in.

But with no heavies in sight; "Let me handle it." Tayuya braved the distance and stood next to the wall, plucking up a disc-shaped grenade, primed it and tossed it into the next room. The gunfire raining out of it dulled for a moment before the thing detonated, bringing it to a complete stop. "Your turn."

Kisame followed suit as he summoned up water through molding his chakra and followed it up with a series of hand signs; "Water style: Shark bomb jutsu." and sent the conjured water shark through the opening and into the smattering of remaining marauders. The place momentarily shaking as the technique connected, sending a tidal wave of water and bits of metal corpses flowing out through the opening. That done, Kisame entered the hole and checked for more enemies; "Tower's clear." he announced.

The rest of the place was also clear as Nagato rejoined them, sighing tiredly. It had been one fight after another since they went to the hangar. And far away – deep inside the city, the Reaper emitted another of those booming sounds. The sound was terrible, and pierced every wall between them and the monstrosity. It was both grating and unnerving, so painful that it's as though every molecule in their bodies threatened to come apart.

"Think it knows about us?" Kisame wildly guessed as he recovered.

"Maybe... maybe not." Nagato muttered, "It's just another weapon of theirs. Meant to terrify organics."

"And it's working." Tayuya said, shivering as the sound echoed through her ears.

Nagato shrugged, "Okay, into the tower we go. Bar the hole if possible, take a short moment to rest and we'll see if there's anything we can do to get out of this, or at least send out a message."

"Er, hello? Long-range communications are down." the girl spoke up to remind him.

"We don't need it. There must be some other way to call for assistance." Nagato said as he headed inside, not wasting another second. "Short-range. Narrow-beam transmission... some way there's got to be."

The two others glanced at one another for a fleeting moment before they followed suit, and started lumping everything big and heavy into place to block the hole, using the brute corpse to support the improvised blockage.

In the far distance, they could once again hear the shrieks of Cannibals and other synthetic creatures coming out of the woodwork. Just a matter of time before they'll crowd the area like a bunch of zombies from a bad horror movie.

"That won't..." Tayuya turned to protest, only to learn that Nagato had already gone upstairs.

Kisame shrugged, "Just go and have your negative chat with him. I'll keep this blockage up."

The girl fumed as she promptly left and hurried up to the control room, where Nagato's trying to find his way around, "Come on... those things won't work. If there's anything close by that _could_ have helped us, then the Reaper probably took it down on the way. And narrow-beam transmission requires a target to direct it at." she argued annoyingly, eliciting a frustrated groan from the man as he planted a hand firmly against his forehead.

"Then what do you suggest we do?" he inquired with forced calm. It was obvious that Kabuto's lapdog had spent a lot of her free-time studying since getting that badge.

Tayuya was quiet for a moment as she thought about it, "We should check the ship-roster. Maybe there's suitable ships in the other docks. Although..." she hesitated, "... those are far away from here."

"We'll worry about how we're going to get there _only_ _if_ there's something there we can make use of."

"... Fine." the girl frowned before she sat down on the closest chair, and went to work.

* * *

"Two blocks to the left.. Four troopers facing south." Ino panted as she released her technique from the bird she had just used for recon purposes. This was why they wanted her to come along; knowing is half the battle. And she can carry out both information gathering and scouting, both vital in missions like this.

Temari gave a brief nod before she repeated the report to Tenten through the earpieces they took from the first Cerberus troopers they killed. "Tenten, Two blocks to the left. Four troopers facing south, copy that?"

"Copy that." Tenten's voice answered her. "Another tag put into place, moving on."

"I hear you." Temari replied and gestured for Ino to repeat.

The Yamanaka nodded slowly as she directed her gaze at the sky above, wiping sweat off her forehead before she found a bird passing immediately overhead. Coincidence, but a convenient one. The girl's body slumped as she sent her mind into the animal in question.

Once there, in control of the bird. Ino altered her course and passed over the dig site. The first time she attempted a recon over the place, she found at least a couple of hundred Cerberus troopers on location. Choosing caution over rushing in, they decided on setting up a trap.

Paper bombs are wonderful things. A scrap of paper, apply writings and then infuse chakra. They found enough paper to make a whole lot of 'em.

She peered down at the ground below. Trying to focus on Tenten's location, and found her again moving from one building, and to another. The girl kept her head low, a gun in hand. Checking if the route's clear before moving on.

_Don't worry, I got your back._

Ino focused her gaze on the surrounding area – circling around the place in sloppy circles as to not give herself away. Sure, one would have to be extremely paranoid to shoot down a random bird that happen to be in the area. No enemies too close yet... _wait_.

On the west-side of the building Tenten just entered, a trooper stood guard.

Ino was about to cancel the technique to order to warn her, but... it turned out her help wasn't needed as her friend grabbed the trooper from behind and slit his throat. Tenten quickly removed the body from sight, went outside to plant a paper bomb... and then moved on. The bomb faded from view as its camouflage set in.

She tried to look around some more, but felt a strong pull as she ran out of time, the technique's effect ending. Ejecting her back into her own body. It was a fairly painful jolt after having done this many times in a row these last couple of hours, "All clear.." she gasped.

"Got it. Only three more tags left." Temari replied, "Let's move to the rendezvous. Soon as she gets there, we'll start the party."

"Yeah.." the Yamanaka coughed, "Just give me second to catch my breath..."

"... Make it fast." the suna-nin plucked out a tag of her own and planted it on the wall. Setting it to detonate within the next nine minutes. One of several such tags set across this place. Enough to give Cerberus the impression of a sizable counterattack.

Slowly, Ino got back onto her feet.. "Okay, I'm ready. Lets get going."

* * *

The girls hurried through the area. Keeping low except when they needed to get past obstacles quickly, leaping right over them instead of going around them. Time's short.

Getting to their destination was the easy part. Finding a ditch at the back of the compound – and climbed in with all speed.

"There you are.." Tenten could be heard at the bottom with relief evident. "Thanks for watching over me."

"You're welcome." Ino replied with a smile as she settled down on her haunches.

"I know you must be tired after all this work so soon after recovering, but try and make ready for another mind-body switch. Once the first bombs go off, we need your help to maximize the damage."

"Two minutes remaining." Temari stated right to the point. Once that countdown's finished, the timed paper bombs will go up in flames.

Ino looked rather flushed with the reminder that one more such effort remained, "...I'll be ready."

"One minute, fifteen seconds."

Tenten sighed, "Relax. Don't stress her out."

"It's okay, I can handle it." the Yamanaka whispered, once again looking to the clear sky above.

She did not want to burden them in any way. Wanting to make sure to let everyone know that she's as ready as anyone can be, considering she just got back from the realm of the dead. And that one remaining minute did not even finish before she managed to invade the body of another flying critter, despite the fatigue that made itself felt almost immediately.

All across the place, things seemed calm. A dozen troopers had started to move away from the rest, probably checking on the units that failed to report back. The one Tenten sneakily killed a short while ago particularly close in mind.

But this specific enemy movement she had no reason to report back about. The chances of them stumbling over the explosive tags being effectively nil.

Once the countdown finished, she watched analytically as a plume of fire suddenly erupted from a prefab, followed quickly by another one. Every Cerberus minion who happened to be relatively nearby lowered their heads and dived into cover.

Several more explosions followed, all within a certain part of the base. And to add to the effect, her comrades initiated the next step; firing their weapons while sending false messages to the enemy troops about an incoming Alliance counterattack.

The effect was immediate as most of the Cerberus troops left the center of the dig site, making a line for the 'battle' as more tags went off. Though that still left about twenty or more troopers to extract the Prothean creature they came here for. The only change across the next couple of minutes being the troops splitting up into smaller units before entering the 'combat area' from nearly every direction.

They moved with purpose. Despite having been largely forced into service, they advanced expertly through the area. Covering one another and keeping an eye on their surroundings. Their visage seemingly impervious, monolithic.

The kunoichi had used a map to draw a relative 'line' around the designated killing area. And Ino kept a solid eye on landmarks that were being used for that purpose. Now she only needed to wait for enemy forces to cross into the zone entirely. Seconds ticking by as they unknowingly let themselves be herded into that relatively small area, searching it thoroughly for their enemy.

The moment the conditions were fulfilled, she sent herself back into her body.. blinking rapidly as she picked herself off the ground, "All there. Bomb 'em." she managed to utter in-between gasps of exhaustion.

"Okay. Plug your ears!" Tenten planted the remote-activation glyph on the wall. And after everyone had done so, the weapons' specialist slammed her elbow into the glyph, "Sorry about this, Konan."

It was quiet for a moment as the enemy slowed down with rising suspicion at the total absence of enemies. That is, until something else entered their view, as if to confirm their suspicions. The troopers did not stand a chance in seeing all of them.. strange tags appearing as the camouflage dropped, and subsequently caught fire. The troopers tried to make sense of what was happening.. while the team leaders called for a retreat once they began to realize that this area had been turned into a trap, but they had no time to pull back at all as several hundred paper bombs across the area detonated in unison. Turning that entire section of the base into a firestorm, as if hell itself just belched into the mortal realm.

If the blast did not kill them, then the heart and fire did. If not that, then the resulting shrapnel of torn metallic fragments, or collapsing prefabs and vehicles that were overturned by the violent chain of explosions that carpeted the area. The victims tried to protect themselves from all of this, but were almost instantly overwhelmed.

And as fast as it had begun, it was over. A large and ominous mushroom cloud rising into the sky in the wake of this event.

Even with their ears plugged, the girls climbed out of their ditch rather clumsily, with ringing noises running through their heads.

"Oh, man..." Temari stood up slowly while clutching her head.

Ino just barely made it out of the ditch before she nearly collapsed. Breathing heavily from exertion.

"Hah hah!... bet those nuts are hurting, Illusive man.." Tenten laughed in triumph, throwing her fist into the air as the smoke continued to ascend until it would inevitably dissipate. No more celebration than that though. They're shinobi, not barbarians eager to dance on somebody's grave.

"We still got less than two dozen hostiles still present at the dig site." Ino informed her, "Stay on your guard."

A sigh, "... Okay. Lets do a quick check if there's any survivors left from the blast and put them down. Once that's done; we'll take down those that remain and snatch that Prothean away from here."

Temari moved on ahead even as their team leader lined out what they needed to do. Fast approaching what's left of the blast area to start the quick cleanup.

* * *

Far out, just beyond the outer orbit of Saturn, a tiny dot of space undulated vaguely just before the Normandy arrived, slowing down and switching over to conventional drives as it headed straight for the gas giant in the distance, or more specifically; one of its moons; Titan. Specifically the capital city on its surface; Huygens dome.

"Silence. There's no COM traffic at all." Joker reported as he tried to pick up signals in the local area.

"With most communication buoys down, we can't expect any." Shepard called in through the intercom, standing on his elevated spot in the CIC while peering at a map displaying the moon Titan, displaying the settlements on the ground, and orbitals. Many of them had been destroyed during the early stages of the Reaper attack. The Commander shook his head sadly at the sight. "Enemy forces?"

EDI appeared just above the map. Her 'face' pulsing softly as she reported her findings; "I have detected the presence of a Reaper within Huygens dome, there are also two fighter crafts in orbit. My scans confirms that they are both Oculus."

Shepard frowned. Remembering the diminutive fighters that the Collectors deployed in the defense of their station. Small, maneuverable, armed with energy weaponry. Also capable of boarding actions. Great. "We can assume that these are more powerful than those we fought earlier. Maintain stealth and approach at best speed. Once in range, hit them with everything we got."

"Aye aye, sir." Joker replied with some enthusiasm.

"EDI, send a narrow-beam transmission to Huygens dome, Alliance tower. Let's see if we still got people fighting in there."

"Yes, sir." the AI responded succinctly.

Despite the stealth, it did not take long before the patrolling Oculus reacted to the Normandy's presence. The red lights across the crafts blinking once before they veered off the designated path to pursue and engage target. Managing an impressive acceleration as they burst into full speed in no time at all.

Unfortunately for the both of them, the Normandy is up for the task. "Entering effective weapons range." Joker reported as the ship's Javelin launchers came online, and fired once. Twin lances of disruptor torpedoes left the Light cruiser and barreled through the void of space with destructive purpose.

Both Oculus reacted accordingly. One slipped past the torpedoes, while the other proved less unfortunate as one of the projectiles grazed it, sending the tiny craft spinning out of control until Joker managed to finish it off with a second salvo.

The Normandy turned and span as its pilot fought to point the ship at the remaining Oculus even as it came closer, beam weapon charging up for a shot.

Shepard carried a mask of deep concentration, holding onto the rail of the CIC as the cruiser took a grazing hit from the remaining fighter. Luckily – the ship's armor held firm. A soft curse came from the pilot, the stars beyond the canopy seemed to pivot as Joker tried to turn the Normandy on a dime, and very nearly succeeded, trying to get the target in his sight.

"EDI, talk to me." Shepard urged the AI, "Any answers yet?"

"Not ye-" she stopped mid-sentence, "I've just received a message from Huygens dome."

"Put it on screen."

The map was replaced by the sight of a place that had not seen the best of days. He could hear distant growls and whines that he already associated with husks at each and every turn. And then slowly the image settled on two familiar faces.

"Kami, you're a sight for sore eyes, Shepard." Nagato said with relief. "We've been trapped here by the Reaper. Most ships have been destroyed, and communications are down. There is one possibility, but it'll have to wait till you arrive."

Shepard wasn't looking directly at Nagato though, instead his eyes were fixed on the girl standing next to him. The sight of her very nearly turned his blood into ice, still remembering the events back on Klencory very clearly. Still remembering how she played with peoples minds, his included. And then there's the dead people she summoned against him, Saren and Kaidan.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he barely caught what had been said when the girl took over the conversation; "Come to these coordinates. Alliance dock sixty-four. We'll be heading there now. Be there, it won't be long before those creeps come back again."

A triumphant shout came from Joker as the remaining Oculus was shot into pieces.

"Good job, Joker. Now make best speed for Huygens dome; Alliance dock sixty-four."

"Roger that, sir."

Once he finished his latest order, Shepard slumped back where he stood. For the moment all alone with his thoughts as the Normandy slowly started to descend into Titan's atmosphere.

Behind him, the elevator opened slowly; the youth inside quietly watching as things developed with suspicion.

* * *

Tayuya watched as the SR-3 Normandy eased its way into the docks. Its brilliant visage dominating the view that otherwise was filled with darkness, flickering lights and ruination. Machines all around hummed to life automatically to handle docking procedures.

She and the others waited for the shore party to exit the ship, standing in the middle of the open area, yet another place littered with the bodies of the dead. Facing the narrow tube that lead up to the ship's airlock, which opened soon after the ship finished docking.

Tayuya felt somewhat at ease seeing Ashley emerge from it despite herself. But Shepard, who exited the ship alongside her looked as though he filled that entire space. A sudden tension that invaded the area in full force to the point that the shore party more resembled an approaching solid wall coated with spikes.

The girl wasn't the only one who began to wonder whether to wait here.. or start running.

And it seemed like the meeting was bound to escalate into something worse as Shepard suddenly pulled a gun out, and pointed it squarely at Tayuya's forehead. "W-wait..." she managed to utter with the surprise that came along with it. The girl was wise enough to avoid raising her arms, as it could be mistaken as an attempt to form hand signs.

For a moment, it looked like he was going to pull the trigger anyway when Ashley moved and grabbed the Commander's wrist to force that gun away, while Nagato moved in to stand between them, as if to protect her.

To Tayuya, this was completely unexpected. They were only allies of convenience, after all. Technically they're still enemies with different ultimate goals.

She was more than aware of the source of Shepard's anger towards her though.

"Shepard, what was that?" Ashley asked, perturbed by what the Commander was about to pull, watching him clench his teeth, "I don't know what kind of grudge you may have against this girl, but this is seriously neither the time, nor the place."

"You have no idea what she did to us back on Klencory. What she did to Kaidan, and Saren."

"Er, about that whole business. I wasn't the one who subjected them to Edo tensei. I merely deployed them according to orders in case you happened to show up."

"Who gave you the right to play god?" Shepard asked.

"You're pulling that one on me?" the girl asked as she rudely pushed her way past Nagato, who frowned in her general direction; "If you had the power to call on the dead to fight on your side, you would have done it without a moment's hesitation."

"What. Just you wait a sec-"

"So I'm wrong? Look at Cerberus. Humans. Those fuckers did not bring me and others back to life out of the kindness of their hearts, you know. They wanted to use us as weapons, super-soldiers. They brought you back too, I recall." she argued, no longer fearing his gun, "And you're flipping out because we brought a human, and a turian back to the world of the living? Just let me tell you this, there are parties in the Citadel that are apparently delighted about Edo tensei. Several humans among them. So don't you go holy on me, buster. Given the choice, you'd do the exact same thing."

Shepard seethed with rage to such a degree that almost made him look alien to those who knew him. Nagato moved to stand between them again, to break it up before things it escalates even further, "Stop it. Ashley's right."

Ashley took the initiative as the ice slowly broke apart, "Are there any other survivors here?"

Nagato gave her a grateful nod before answering, "We believe so, but with communications down, it's hard to know for sure. Last we heard, the locals pulled back to the shelters. But there's a Reaper between us and them, if anyone's still alive."

"Alright. Hypothetically, if we somehow managed to save them, is there any way to evacuate them?"

"There's a large cargo ship in the civilian docks, MSV This side up. It's the only remaining ship still relatively intact. But it requires a full crew complement to move. Probably the reason the Reaper neglected to destroy it, unless it came here specifically to use the population as raw materials to produce more husks, in which case it'll need the ship to transport them."

Ashley winced at that possibility, "Do we have any chance of success if we were to attempt it?"

"Don't know. But a cargo ship's a huge target. And to be honest, we don't even know if anyone's still alive. We could end up throwing away precious time trying to fight that Reaper, only to find all the inhabitants dead. And even _if_ they're still alive, evacuating them could take hours. Plenty time for more Reapers to arrive."

"So our chances of success are _slim_ at best." Ashley commented grimly.

"Yes."

The mood soured considerably with that. Faced again with the consequences of either option available to them. And _yet again_, it seemed that simply leaving without attempting an evacuation remained the wiser thing to do.

"So what? We're just going to run away again?" another voice cried out in anger.

Nagato released a tired sigh upon the boy's arrival into the discussion, "That may be the most prudent choice we have at this time, Naruto."

"Huh?" Tayuya raised an eyebrow at the boy, who appeared to be strangely familiar. Her memories associated with him contained frustration for the most part, and annoyed realization in abundance. She just could not quite place him.

"Bullshit." the boy coarsely responded with much venom as he came closer, "There's only one Reaper here!"

"One. But how long do you think it's going to stay that way?" Ashley asked, she hated the situation. Just hours had gone by, and most of the military strength of the Alliance within the Sol system had already been annihilated. The Reapers could easily free up some of their numbers to perform other tasks elsewhere while the bulk subdue Earth. "Right now, Sol is Reaper central."

"Does it matter?" Naruto walked past them, apparently not listening.. "We got a chance to do some good here!"

Nagato shook his head at how unreasonable the boy's being as he, and Kisame by extension stepped in to stop him.

Kisame – who up till then had watched the area for anymore hostiles, managed just barely to grab Naruto just barely by the back of his collar as he tried to evade, and moved to slam him into the ground when the boy suddenly vanished in a puff of smoke, much to his surprise.. "A shadow clone?"

"...But that can only mean." the fellow missing-nin uttered, as if expecting things to go out of hand if they don't take appropriate measures immediately. Last he wanted right now was for one of them to go nuts here.

But it was already too late as the sound of tortured metal arrived at their ears, as if someone just tried to rip through a hole through a wall.. not even caring that there are additional exits from which to leave through. The work of someone who expected the others to try and stop him.

Nagato along with everyone else hurried to the edge of the docking platform, and found themselves peering at a hole in the side of the Normandy's hangar deck. They could already hear Joker quipping about the ruined paint job while Hinata appeared just inside the hole with an expression of deep concern, and mild shock.

It did not take long before another identical sound followed much further below. "Oh my god, he just ran in, didn't he?" Ashley asked. She had never seen that technique up close, but managed to piece it together through observation. The timing couldn't be any worse.

"Dammit, we have to stop him before it's too late." Shepard muttered as a series of howls came to their attention, signaling another wave of husks as they emerged from the ruins. Lumbering towards the shore party with a loping gait.

Shepard slung his rifle and quickly sought after cover, firing as he went. The rest of the group followed his example as much as they're able, toppling the front row of the encroaching creatures as their assault was met with fierce resistance.

But despite this situation, he found himself somewhat at ease. The boy's recklessness giving him a reason to go on the offensive instead of running away.

But the question was, how much time do they have? "Joker, EDI, keep an eye out. If another Reaper shows up, let us know."

"Yes, sir." Joker responded with slight trepidation, though he covered it up immediately with his usual demeanor.

Shepard ducked as a hail of projectiles passed over his head, a group of Marauders racing out of a distant exit before they dived into available pieces of cover, though the Commander managed to drop one of them with a few well-aimed bullets before it could protect itself properly. Another one lost its head before it could retaliate, Ashley appearing at his side with sniper rifle drawn, in the process of shunting a new heat sink into place.

"Does this kind of thing happen all the time when you're with these aliens?" she asked.

"No. Something's different. Never seen the kid _this_ reckless." Shepard defended the boy without thinking. Taking a moment as they resumed firing to wonder. Up till now, he's been at least somewhat pragmatic regarding combat situations, but why's he throwing it to the winds _now_ of all times?

"More incoming!"

"Take them out."

* * *

This place used to be a plaza, or the equivalent of one at least. Located comfortably close to the normally incredibly busy docking area. One of the nearby places with a relaxing atmosphere, and a soothing fountain located in the middle of it.

But as of a few hours ago, it became a site of ruination. Carpeted by the corpses of many unfortunate people that shared the misfortune of being there when the attack started, too close to get to the shelters before the synthetic invasion overwhelmed them. The fountain had been broken, and water flowed almost freely across the place, mingling with the pools of blood.

The only sign of life – came from the monsters that now crowded the place, stomping and crushing the dead underfoot. Right now, a convoy of husks could be seen passing through, bringing with them a number of Dragon's teeth – the gruesome constructs that are used to convert organics deemed unsuitable for 'ascension'.

But before they could move on, the ceiling was shattered with the arrival of a most troublesome organic. But the husks did not have a prayer, as the lone attacker was suddenly surrounded by a swarm of identical copies, each carrying a swirling sphere of energy in their palms.

The few with guns tried to retaliate as the rain of enemies hit them, pulverizing their bodies and equipment in an immense torrent of destruction as the massive Rasengan barrage impacted with the enemies in full force. Light ripping through the plaza as the attack concluded.

The brutes at the center of the formation remained relatively unharmed though, and quickly arrayed themselves against their surrounding opponents, only for most of the copies to vanish. Except three, which the brutes promptly rushed towards without initiating even the slightest attempt at understanding what is about to happen.

Naruto roared as he and his remaining shadow clones focused their combined attention into the creation of a Rasenshuriken, which he proceeded to throw at the opposing mass of enemies before they could get close enough to do any real damage.

The hulking brutes managed to resist the enormous molecular damage the technique caused for all the time it took to disintegrate them, swallowing up most of the area in a massive concentrated sphere of energy until the technique had finally run its course, leaving a large semi-spherical hole in its wake. Of a convoy that seemed almost unstoppable, nothing remained – except a few scattered bodies that were far enough away to avoid being hit by the boy's latest attack.

However, the surrounding area almost twisted in agony as a metallic cry boomed through the area.

Naruto halted mid-step to cover his ears, groaning in pain as the sound quickly passed. Eventually, he lowered his arms and peered into the darkened streets up ahead, his expression deeply grim before he banished the expression and flashed a daring smile in defiance. "Was that a challenge?" he hollered into the dark space around him, "Then come, I'll turn you all into scrap metal!" waiting for any reaction.. but nothing reared its ugly head at him, "No? Then I'll find you and kick your chicken ass into the next week!"

The Reaper, if it heard him at all, did not take the bait. Or it simply did not care about his show of bravado at all.

The only reaction he got from the surrounding area was that of rapid footsteps as human husks appeared from the in abundance, with a scattered group of Cannibals in the back.

The boy crossed his fingers, an a horde of additional shadow clones emerged from the onrushing storm that suddenly erupted across the area before rushing to meet the incoming horde head-on.

If there's at least one bone in his body that objected to his current behavior, the boy had just tied it up and locked it away inside the janitor's closet. He did not restrain himself at all as he and his horde of shadow clones tore into the onrushing horde.

It felt strangely relieving, to simply let himself loose. Naruto neglected to look behind him, and instead continued his rampage through the city's streets. Right now, leaving is not an option. Or not to him at least.

* * *

Not much to say other than the whole about days so busy that it's difficult to get back on the writing board.


	44. Chapter 44

Chapter 44

* * *

To him, only minutes had passed. His species' last hope of surviving the Reaper invasion had been reduced to mere hundreds, down from what used to be nearly one million souls. Many of them died because the enemy found them due to indoctrinated agents. The rest because a neutron purge was initiated by Victory to destroy intruders and make the Reapers think everyone in the bunkers had died off.

Javik entered suspended animation with the vow that he'll become more than just the voice of the lost Prothean empire. And with that, he went to sleep for as long as it would take for the Reapers to leave alongside all the hundreds of other remaining soldiers.

Only, to him it was a short 'nap'. Feeling as if he had just gone to sleep when his pod opened. Momentarily, he was unresponsive... The act of waking up alone suddenly felt like a major undertaking. If anyone spoke, he could not hear them at all. Everything... was silent.

And then slowly he opened his eyes to see the light of day shine down upon him. Clouds drifting through the sky at a languid pace. He was only dimly aware that something hit the ground not far from his pod, the sight of an arm barely visible in the periphery of his vision for as long as it took to drop away completely.

Eventually, after what felt like hours, he managed to will a finger into motion. Then the whole hand, and promptly the rest of his arm. Javik reached it up to grab hold and pull himself up with a low grunt of exertion. The whole world blurred for a second as he did this, everything swam past his field of vision, giving him a moment of headache as something else entered his vision. A tall figure clad in armor who did not even seem to acknowledge his presence as it opened fire in short bursts at something in the distance. He couldn't hear the gun's clatter, but he could _feel_ the dull thud caused by the launch of each individual bullet.

But then the figure staggered as it got fired at in return, a trio of bullets striking it in the chest in rapid succession. It stumbled backwards, despite trying to push back and keep fighting.

Javik turned his head to see whoever that one's fighting, only to frown with a flair of perplexity as his eyes narrowed down at a knife sailing through the air, spinning so fast it looked like a rotary saw. Either the opponent... whoever it is, had decided to go medieval on its opponent's ass. Or this planet had given birth to primitive sentients while he was sleeping. Not those gas bags, he hoped.

In that case, maybe he's been sleeping for... a little bit too long.

The knife embedded itself deeply into the chest where the bullets had hit home, and sank into the flesh beyond it. The alien coughed harshly, taking a few rough steps back before tumbling off the nearby rails, and fell to its death.

Rails.

Then it just hit him. Javik forced himself upright through almost nothing but sheer strength of will. This isn't the place. He was supposed to be in the bunker, not in the open. Was his pod just excavated?

Clumsily, he climbed out of the pod and stumbled about in confusion as his ears finally started to work. The ghostly whisper of an ongoing gunfight making itself clear to all of his senses as he struggled to get up on his feet.. only to see vast plains stretching into the distance beyond this platform. The only disruption in this tranquil scenery being the ongoing gunfight, and the distant column of smoke rising far up into the air.

Someone tried to grab him.. But Javik responded resolutely, slapping the alien away with a biotic strike, absentmindedly watching it fall out of sight as he tried to comprehend fully what was going on.

Silence fell on the area with the demise of yet another body close by. Meaning that one of the sides had just been wiped out. Yet his attention did not turn to its victors, instead he continued to gaze in confusion at the scenery, as if trying to divine something from them.

Another alien proceeded to reach out to him.. but in a verbal manner, not in a physical one. Javik couldn't understand the words, but they were cautious in tone.

With little but the most simple of curiosity he turned to face the aliens, and found himself – to his considerable surprise – looking at a trio of females that could very easily be considered to be common folk due to their lack of a distinct uniform and armor. The only military vibe he got from them at first glance came from the weapons they carried. After that, he noticed their mannerism. How they carried themselves. No sign of any trauma. Neither could he ignore that they're the apparent victors of this little skirmish.. judging by all the heavily armed and armored bodies lying around across one part of the field.. while the opposite side of the area appeared completely devoid of any signs of casualties.

The female spearheading the group, one with strange buns on her head, took a careful step forward and tried to ask him something. That much he understood. Everything about her expression, and the manner of speech told him that she's asking a question. The meaning of the words themselves though eluded him completely. All three resembled a species familiar to him, one that scientists found in a system not too far away from here back in his people's cycle, yet something felt wrong.

Her expression slowly changed, probably realizing that they got a significant language barrier to surmount before genuine communications can be carried out.

Fortunately, Protheans are gifted in that regard. Javik took a step closer, but quickly realized that this manner of approach seemed threatening as the females took a step back accordingly, lifting their weapons a few inches.

He stopped and inwardly sighed, exuding perfect calm the next time he tried to approach.. This time they did not move in a negative manner. The aliens exchanged words, their tones indicating caution.

Without stopping, but slowing his pace, he approached the girl who had tried to talk to him and raised his hand slowly. It was like toying with children, in how their eyes instantly gravitated in his hand's general direction, as if expecting a trick... or a treat.

Javik steered his hand away from her head and placed the very tip of his fingers against her shoulder, but was repelled in an instant when he tried to mentally reach forward. It was like touching an active electrical fence... He only saw the image of an extremely violent hurricane that was painful to watch. The shock was great enough that he very nearly fell.

The girl was shocked by this contact as well as she stumbled away from him, and had to be supported by one of her comrades to remain standing. This other comrade carried a look of confusion.

The Prothean placed a hand against his forehead as he tried to make sense of what just happened. This was the first time he had ever failed utterly at gaining information through touch. Through all of recorded Prothean history, something like this is almost completely unheard of. The only cases like this occurred during a diplomatic mission that occurred a long time ago... in a time before the Reaper invasion.

He tried to remember more, but then one of the females approached him after a further exchange of words. The female in question possessing long blonde growths. Two of his eyes focused on hers as she came closer and raised a hand, as if imitating him.

Javik frowned and raised his hand in turn, reaching out for hers. The blonde gave a slow nod before they made contact.

The same thing happened first. The hurricane appeared before his eyes again for a moment before it twisted itself out of shape until the pain vanished. The scene replaced by what looked like the eye of a storm. With massive walls of violent currents surrounding the area... and watched as the girl's image appeared, standing a few feet away from him.

Most surprising was that the area was split between two territories that instantly formed the image of cities belonging to respective species at its peak. From her perspective; an image of Konoha, with the image of a Prothean arcology existing as its most immediate neighbor.

Javik realized that these images appeared because the two of them accidentally sharing information with one another. And apparently, she seemed to notice that too. Judging by her expression of sheer awe.

Encouraged, he mentally reached out for her.. and she echoed his movement perfectly. And in an instant, they gathered all of the knowledge concerning each others languages before they broke contact. The images faded away, and they found themselves back in the real world. Both overwhelmed by the startling experience. And as one, they both collapsed.

And as Javik slowly fell unconscious, he heard the girl with the buns speak up again.. and this time understood what she said perfectly. An order to get both their comrade – and him – back to their ship, to safety.

Though they only just met, he could not help but feel reassured despite all the questions he wanted to demand the answers for. But for now... it could wait.

* * *

She stood there, shocked by what Naruto just did. Her beloved decided against all rational sense to rush in on his own with such spontaneity. Up until then, they've been sitting around quietly while she held his hand. This whole invasion felt like a nightmare coming to life. Worse – it opened old wounds that they thought had healed at least partially. But some things you just can't run away from. Naruto seemed to catch the worst of this, and no amount of comforting on her part did anything to alleviate the problem.

Seemingly out of nowhere, something in him just snapped. Sage mode triggered, and he tore his way out of the ship and vanished from sight.

It was the worst possible outcome short of... _No, I don't even want to think about it!_

The rest of the hangar was in a state of turmoil and outrage as crew members hurried to assess the damage, worried that it might hurt the Normandy's space-worthiness, despite it having survived Oculus boarders during the battle against the Collectors.

In their haste, a few ended up trying to push Hinata away from the opening, only for her to snap at them in a nonverbal manner by taking and throwing to the floor the most immediate intruders of her personal space, much to the ire of those around her. The Hyuga wasn't acting very gently at all, with frustration bubbling up to the surface.

Most of this new crew had never met a Kalinin until recently. And they were all, with very few exceptions, complete strangers to the girl.

_Stay away, I'm not in the mood._

That's what she wanted to say, but none of the words managed to come close enough to the surface of her mind to make it past her vocal cords. Instead, she merely brought up her byakugan and made them clear away with a glare that seemed as though it pierced their very souls.

"Hinata, calm down." her attention so focused on the crew that she almost overlooked Kakashi as he approached, "Guys, give her some room.." he told those who crowded around her, just outside her arms' reach. Those who had been thrown down crawled away from them.

A few seemed more than willing to try and chew her out, but backed away with reluctance.

"Thank you, It'll only take a moment." he told them before he went to stand next to the teen. But during the next minute said nothing, only waiting patiently for Hinata to respond to him. Which she eventually did, even as the gunfight outside continued with undiminished intensity. The gunshots' point of origin bouncing back and forth, so much that it sounded like multiple matches of rapid-fire tennis are going on nearby.

"Who's the crazy one?" she asked with a rasping sigh... "Those who deal with old wounds by striking at an enemy.. Or those who shut it all inside."

"Both of them have their merits." Kakashi decided to reply, "What depends is what manner helps you cope with it the most. Can't say much for the time I've been dead... but the Naruto I know is a reckless knucklehead." he paused for a moment, "... Did he ever tell you about the time he almost skewered a rabbit by accident?"

Hinata tried to maintain a straight face, but it collapsed with a low giggle.. "He never told me that."

"And then he hugged the little critter and apologized while the rest of us watched in exasperation." not really mentioning that he was busy back then observing the rabbit's fur.

Her smile grew a little.

"Point is.. back then, he kept making stupid, reckless decisions. This situation's pretty nostalgic in that regard. Both of you are facing a trauma, and are acting accordingly in each your own way. He's trying to relieve himself by beating the snot out of a chosen enemy. While you deal with it by mentally hopping up and down on it, trying to force it deep enough into a chosen chest so that you may eventually close it shut, and throw the key away."

She nodded quietly. "...And which of those do you prefer?"

"Me?" Kakashi gave it a long hum of thought, "... I'm a fan of both. But right now, I think I'll go for a little dose of proper violence. So how about it, shall we join the knucklehead's rampage and give it a try?" giving a mischievous grin of his own.

Hinata hesitated as she gazed at the area in front of them.. the gunfight above finally sounding like it's about to end. Soon, and without turning, she started tilting her head forward.. "Yes. I'm worried that the Reaper might be too tough for him to handle."

"All the more reason to join him." he noted, "You move on ahead, just need to tell Shepard first before I'll follow suit."

* * *

"Hold on! I'm not going back in there." Tayuya protested fiercely at the thought of going back into the city itself.

Shepard looked less than pleased. They finally dropped the last of the husks in this area and were about to move on when the girl started backing down, "You'd betray your kind?"

"Hey, do you have some kind of sick fetish involving the need to take on impossible odds? I'm not like that, at all!" she raised a finger at him, "I've already spent nearly three years as nothing but a corpse and research specimen, I don't plan adding more to it in the foreseeable future."

"She may be one of our kind, but it doesn't avoid the fact that she's Kabuto's underling." Nagato told Shepard plainly.

"Look. See that badge she's got? You're in no position to order her around anyway. You're not even a Spectre right now, so you can't demand any use of resources from the chain of command she's part of." Ashley added in.

"You look. We're wasting time, and need all hands we can use." Shepard muttered impatiently.

"Then let us handle this?"

He turned to see Kakashi approach them, "What?"

"Hinata has already moved on ahead. I'm here to notify you before I follow suit."

"We shouldn't even split up like this."

"We'll handle the Reaper – and bring Naruto back, Shepard." Kakashi calmly insisted.

"Yes. Good luck with that." Tayuya said, folding her arms. Sounding quite genuine, if only to avoid getting herself involved.

Ashley turned to suggest something, "Then we should try to see if there are still civilians to pull out, just in case you're successful."

But Shepard did not look quite reassured, though it did sound viable with both their hardest hitters going in. "But our intention was to fetch Naruto, and then get out." he told him, despite himself.

"Then consider this a change of plan. We've got a feeling that Naruto won't pull out until the Reaper's beaten." Kakashi continued in his regular calm manner, his tone almost reassuring.

"...Alright." Shepard finally conceded, "Everyone, back to the ship. We'll redeploy to the civilian docks and search for the shelters from there."

"Thanks." the Jonin said with some appreciation.

"Just give the bastards a good kick in the teeth for us, Kakashi."

"We'll make sure to do more than that."

* * *

Naruto crashed himself through a window and scuttled to the side before enemy fire could get to him, taking cover even as the commotion outside continued to build relentlessly. With the complete lack of other enemy forces to suppress, the number of husks on his side of the city had grown quite a bit.

Hundreds of the blasted things are currently crowding the nearby streets, and more are moving up through the building... probably searching for civilians that did not manage to evacuate to the shelters... and him.

He could go kyubi and make the fight more even.. But the dome's damaged enough as it is.

Edging closer to the window, he peered from its lowest corner.. It was faint, but he could see the movements of something huge in the distance. Probably the Reaper itself, if he was to guess. But confirmation came soon enough:

"You. Harbinger spoke of you." a voice boomed through the district before a red beam of energy speared through a line of buildings, blowing a hole clean through all of them. It missed Naruto's position by at least two rooms. "You will end your resistance. The cycle; must; continue."

He instantly moved away from his current position, dived out of the window and ran along the wall to a position more out-of-sight. Even as marauders and cannibals alike fired up at him, trying to pick him off.

It was here that Naruto had to once again realize how big an idiot he is. To come here without backup.

His Sage mode faded the moment just before he managed to lunge into through a door that just barely managed to open up to let him in. Otherwise he would have smashed his way straight through it at this speed. The boy rolled across the floor and pulled a nearby table up on end to provide some cover when the enemy inevitably followed, not even waiting for the door to slid open before they broke it open. A trio of marauders stomped in and glared with those cold eyes at the table, and charged it instead of firing immediately,

Naruto resorted to summoning a shadow clone, and gave it an explosive tag before throwing the clone itself at them. A standard body-slam that resulted in an explosion which tore the apartment apart even though the marauders quickly emerged from it.. only lightly singed.

Once again on the run, he passed down a corridor and struck down a husk that ambled out of a nearby apartment without breaking his pace. Knowing fully what would happen if he stayed still. The section of the building behind him flew apart as the Reaper opened fire again.

He considered trying to lure it into more enclosed space, but so far it barely even budged. It would most likely not take the bait at all. Remaining in relative security behind its legion of lesser synthetics.

But it seemed like that's not even remotely close to the limitation of a Reaper. Husks aren't just a force of mindless drones with naught but an on- and off-button, but can be easily controlled by the Reapers participating on the battlefield, allowing them to fight it on multiple levels. The boy barely managed to get past his newest spot of concealment when it was obliterated by the Reaper... simply because one measly husk happened to discover him. They're their eyes, as well.

He landed in the middle of what resembled a stadium of sorts. Not a particularly big one, but sufficient as husks quickly poured out of every entrance until the bleachers filled up almost completely with the tide of monsters. "D-damn it..." he breathed, slowly standing up even as the horde surrounded him.

With no other choice, the blood-red chakra of his tailed beast started bleeding out through his skin, covering his body with a fox-like visage. Hissing as his canines lengthened and his pupils stretched.. the cloak quickly becoming dense enough for a tail to form. A flaring Rasengan forming in the palm of his hand.

That was when the lower part of a nearby building was pierced by something that blew right through the middle of it.. a flaming projectile that struck the bleacher behind Naruto's position with such speed that the enemy forces in that area were blown apart by the force of impact. The projectile, once slowed, revealed itself to be a large ball of chakra as it rolled like a ball through the area until it unfolded, revealing Hinata, having already summoned enough of her tailed beast chakra to form all three tails.

Naruto's expression was one of surprise as the girl came closer, skidding across the ground the rest of the distance before bringing up an arm. Fear evident on his face just moments before she slapped him across his face with such force that the remaining pressure blew away the nearby goal a few meters. Naruto was lucky that his head still remained attached to his shoulders. Even the Reaper seemed to wince.

The boy turned completely speechless as their eyes met.. lifting a hand up his cheek – practically ground zero now – as it swelled from the slap. "W-w..."

"Next time.." she began, barely able to hold her tears back... "Don't leave me behind, or I won't forgive you."

Lines of husks were washed away in the distance as a giant dragon made out of water rampaged through the bleachers, courtesy of Kakashi.

"I... I..." Naruto did not know what to say, seeing those tears caused him more pain than the slap itself. Whatever he wanted to say fell back down his throat as the girl embraced him.. the Sanbi's shell extending to cover them both as the husks all opened fire... a dozen Brutes stomping into the stadium to crush the resistance. "S-sorry..." the boy finally gasped.

"You remembered the pain.. and the rest of us did the same, when we saw the Reapers invade. Of the day when the Geth invaded.. when so many people died all at once, so many friends and lost, one by one. We all felt that same overwhelming... unbearable... feeling of helplessness."

"I don't want anyone else to suffer what we did.. I want to save everyone from that pain." Naruto whispered quietly.. "Is that so wrong?"

"No. I want nothing more than to do the same.. But this is a war that the entire galaxy must face. We can't do everything by our lonesome." she whispered in turn, her emotions bleeding onto every word as if it pained her to note that this can't be so easily solved. "We must fight as a part of a greater whole if the Reapers are to be defeated."

"But to fight in battles of our choosing..."

"Is to expedite the process. The quicker unity is achieved, the sooner the war will end, and the fewer will suffer."

Naruto was stunned by those words of wisdom. He saw the picking of battles as avoiding the enemy.. not its actual meaning; to fight in the most important places, where they're needed the most. "I'm such an idiot." he quietly admitted breathlessly with much regret.

"But your heart's in the right place." she replied, leaning almost close enough for a kiss.. "Let's finish this battle.. We got a galaxy to help."

The protective shell faded as the two Jinchurki parted, "Yes." Naruto replied, his cloak having advanced to seven tails by now.. the fox-skeleton having formed around his frame. The two of them overshadowed as the Brutes lunged at them from all sides.

In the distance, the Reaper Destroyer watched as it lost contact with its forces in that immediate area.. the whole stadium almost destroyed by the series of explosions that followed as the two Kalinin let it rip, tearing through their most immediate opponents together. "Try as much as you desire, but failure is irrevocably part of your nature. Before the cycle, all of your struggles... are futile."

* * *

Another chapter done.

Was glad to find out that the Protheans possess such an ability. With some obstacle added, it could cement an event hinted towards in this chapter that was explained earlier in very vague terms.

As for EDI. She'll get her body eventually.


	45. Chapter 45

**Chapter 45**

* * *

Silence descended over the stadium after barely a minute of intense combat as the two Jinchuriki in an act of near-perfect cooperation wiped it clean of husk forces to the point that the stadium largely ceased to exist.

The two of them returned to the center and faced outward, back to back in waiting for anything that might come out to challenge them next, but nothing came.

"Phew, you're making me feel old." Kakashi sighed as he appeared from the smoke, close to the teenagers' location. Looking like he had just gone through hell, "You've grown really strong."

"I apologize, Kakashi-sensei, but right now..." Hinata's eyes resting on the massive reaper in the distance, which hasn't moved from its spot since it first taunted them. As if it was evaluating the organics before it. "Save it for when we beat that thing down.."

Naruto grinned briefly at how business-like his mate's being right now, staring down a one hundred and sixty meters tall warship like that, even as it glared back at them with that blood-red lens that stood in contrast to the black armor surrounding it. So unblinking with its malevolence. The threat very much palpable as the visible lens also serves as the business end of its beam cannon.

And then it started to glow all the stronger.

"It's coming!" Kakashi whispered strongly, he and the teenagers leaping away immediately just in time before it fired, and sliced the entire stadium ruins in half in a single burst of precise energy.

The Jinchuriki landed on separate parts of the field, but the Jonin was nowhere in sight at first. Until the Reaper stumbled when a wall burst up from the road, catapulting its left front leg up into the air. "Now!" Kakashi shouted from the road, "While it's off-balance!"

Naruto - filled with glee - oozed chakra, making his cloak all the denser even as he gathered a ton of chakra into his maw, "Alright! Here we go!" launching his tailed beast bomb with terrible power.. far too much of it.

Hinata gasped at this and fired one of her own, striking Naruto's just meters off the reaper's hull, causing a premature – but extremely violent explosion that blew away everything nearby, including entire buildings. Not having achieved penetration, the blast merely knocked the gargantuan reaper away and flipped it over. Forcing it to flail like an overturned crab as it tried to get back up again.

"H-hey!" Naruto exclaimed as he turned to the girl, but immediately shrank away as she appeared before him, almost right in his face. The boy instantly braced himself for another slap as he finally realized his mistake. "S-sorry... got caught up in the moment!"

But before she could, Kakashi's head popped out of the ground, currently making good use of one of his mole tunneling techniques, "What just happened?" he asked in confusion.

Hinata turned to him in an instant, "We're in a dome, remember? Outside this place is an extremely inhospitable atmosphere. Too strong a blast, and the dome could collapse along with its life support systems and kill us all."

"I... see." Kakashi replied, taken aback by the girl's angry response. "In that case.." he groaned softly as he pulled himself out of the ground entirely. "... I'll handle the first part, and you deliver the final blow. Alright?"

"What are you planning?" Naruto asked.

"Hoh..." Kakashi turned to the reaper as it finally got back on its legs. Looking royally pissed off in the way its solitary eye glowed. "Just a little something.." he hummed cryptically with some confidence.

"**You will perish!**" the reaper boomed as it came about, smashing lesser buildings underfoot.

The Jonin shrugged as he calmly went to stand between the machine, and the teenagers. Raising a hand up to his headband to readjust it, "Follow my lead, kids. And do what I tell you to."

Naruto and Hinata looked up, their eyes practically boring into the back of the sensei's head. "Y-yes, Kakashi-sensei." the boy replied with a nostalgic grin.

"I'm counting on you two." Kakashi finally said as he widened his stance, and jerked his headband up to reveal his Sharingan. "Here we go!"

And so the three of them burst into motion, first to avoid the beam that the reaper just shot at them. The eyes of the young ones tracking Kakashi as he went on the offensive.

* * *

The initial husks went down easy as the Normandy landed close to the massive cargo ship they planned to make use of. Shepard departing from the light cruiser's airlock before docking procedures were completed. Ashley and Nagato at his side.

The area proved to be full of synthetics, mostly human husks. Shepard feared the worst as he shot down the closest one that attempted to charge him. "Those bastards." he grit his teeth, continuing to shoot down enemy after enemy, leaving behind a dozen corpses before he slowed down, weighed down by his thoughts. "Are we too late?"

"No. Now that we've come this far, we can't give up without checking." Ashley comforted him, placing a heavy hand on his left shoulder.

"Shinra tensei!" Nagato shouted as he raised his hand, blasting away hundreds of the husks in one single gesture. Crushing even more as the husks that were sent flying collided with those further behind. "Our path lies before us. Best see it through.. don't forget a few of my comrades are already risking their lives fighting that Reaper."

Shepard checked his rifle, as if to use it to distract himself before his sense of responsibility finally returned.. "Alright." he grimly spoke, moving on ahead, blowing a hole through the head of a husk that managed by avoid getting blasted away by Nagato by sheer stroke of luck.

The Justu cleared the immediate area, allowing the shore team to push on into the neighboring area, searching for the closest shelter. Following every sign they could even as distant thunder could be heard coming from further into the city. The superstructure trembling very faintly from the ongoing struggle.

"They're still at it." Ashley slowed down as she looked at the city, only seeing distant bursts of light. It was like a firework. Just three people fighting in there, and it looks as though it was being waged by thousands. The woman could not help but marvel at the thought of what the battle might look like.

She stood there as if bewitched, staring into the distance. It almost cost her, her life. A Marauder appeared from a ruined car ahead and was about to place a bullet firmly between her eyes. Only saved when Shepard pushed her away and sent the enemy crashing into hell with a hail of bullets. "Careful!" he shouted before casting a glance at her once the coast was clear once again, "You okay?"

"Y-yeah.." she stuttered while pushing herself off the wall, leaning down along the way to fetch the weapon she dropped amidst the surprise. "I'll live."

"Here.." Nagato pointed down a nearby flight of stairs.. the door to which was chock-full of corpses of both husks and armed humans. Moving over to kick away a few of the bodies to allow them to move in. Nonchalant, but they needed to get down there quick.

Shepard clenched his jaws as he approached the mess in turn. Getting ready in case the worst case scenario came to pass. "On me... lets go." the tone of his voice sounding a little nervous, much to his personal chagrin.

The trip towards the shelter far below was filled with horrors. Covered wall to wall with ruined husks and mutilated corpses of human beings. It looked like the local armed forces had fought a desperate last stand here.

He tried to steel himself for the possible sight of an ocean of corpses within this shelter itself. The stench of all this death and destruction was obscene. Beyond imagining. Ashley appeared similarly disgusted and fearful. Nagato though looked fairly composed, though his posture looked a little stiff, and his gaze strangely distant. Almost like he could see the ghosts of those who died here.

After a fair distance, they arrived at the shelter itself.. the massive blast door half-open, with the opening utterly clogged with bodies.

The three stood there, looking the scene over gravely. It was deathly silent.

Slowly, Shepard approached the door and did what suddenly felt like the most natural thing in the world; he knocked. Once. Twice. "Hey! Anyone in there?" he inquired loudly, "Can you hear me...?"

But it was silent as a tomb. And in the wait for answers, the stench of this place made itself even more intrusive.

With deep anger, he slammed a fist against the closest wall. The lack of answers confirming his worst fears. All three standing there until the Commander finally pushed himself away from the door to signal for them to move on. He looked like a man who had gotten himself completely lost in a labyrinth of despair. Shepard thought he had managed to prepare himself for the inevitable war against the Reapers.. only to be proven entirely wrong. No amount of preparations could have prepared him for this... this genocide. Ashley looked back at him, worried. He realized that and felt ashamed of letting his doubts be so easily read. "Lets go." he told them, and started moving on ahead.

"... Hello?"

Shepard halted, unbelieving for an instant before turning to the door. "Tell me I'm not hearing ghosts.." he said cautiously. Just waiting for the others to stare at him as if he's gone crazy. But they too seemed to hear that.

"Who am I talking to...?" the voice asked from the other side of the door.

The realization made the Commander feel the more responsible part of his self come in to play; "I'm Commander John Shepard. I'm here to help you."

A sigh of relief erupted from the other side, "Corporal Harris, sir. Our CO went down during their last wave."

The smile that showed itself on Shepard's face was most gratifying as he glanced at his very much relieved comrades, "How many are in there?"

"... A few hundred, give or take." Harris replied, "When those things came here, only a few went down here.. being so close to the docks. The rest ran into the city."

"Okay, there's a cargo ship at the docks that should be able to carry everyone with plenty room to spare." Shepard described, "Is there any people in there that can operate such ships?"

"A few... I think."

"Good enough. Open up, We'll relocate you to the ship, and assign a few extra guards to keep the area secure while we search for more survivors."

The giant blast door slowly eased its way open, revealing the Corporal and a dozen other alliance marines. The rest being further in. "Thanks. But I don't think any of the other shelters are a go. We lost contact with them."

"We'll check anyway. Not going to leave anyone behind for the Reapers to kill... or worse." he barely kept those words from dying in his throat. It felt so empty right now. People slowly appearing from the dark ahead. Men, women and children. All spooked and frightened. Forcefully, he dispelled the doubts from his face, "Lets go, people!"

Inside, he felt an overwhelming sense of relief rise up.

* * *

"Damn, EDI. You're the greatest." Joker told the AI with a silly grin.

"I would like to remind you, Jeff, that they're currently fighting for their lives." EDI replied with some disapproval.

She had just managed to connect with the systems within Huygens dome, and from there activated remaining surveillance cameras situated close to the center of the city, where the Kalinin are currently engaging the Reaper Destroyer.

"I-It's alright. I mean, look at 'em go." he replied in excitement.. "It's like an action movie. Nothing wrong with immortalizing it for posterity, and future reference."

"Jeff." the pilot could almost feel the ship trying to shrug.

"I mean it. A morale boost... You know." his eyes suddenly widened in a child-like manner. "Oh look, something's happening!"

The AI ended up sighing in slight exasperation.

"Hoho, this is gonna be good." the man mused gleefully and hovered a finger over a button for a split second before pressing it, "Aaaand... record."

* * *

The city had turned into a chaos of crisscrossing lights as the Jinchuriki went wild on the ground forces in the Reaper's immediate vicinity. Tearing up concrete and stripping the plates off walls, toppling a few of the buildings as the support beams and foundations were torn asunder. Husks tried to stop them at every turn, only to fade away as the teenagers blew through them like living projectiles. The entire demolishing of the surrounding area around the reaper so extensive and fast that it splashed apart like hot soup.

Their main opponent however seemed to be taking all of this with crushing calm as it surveyed the crumbling battlefield for the attack it might have to look out for and counter accordingly.

Kakashi stood in a calm and collected manner as he overlooked the chaos from the highest vantage point, on top of a building a fair distance away. Admiring the work of the young ones, "Naruto... from below."

The front of the Destroyer suddenly jerked upwards as Naruto burst at it from below in an uppercut-like thrust, leaving a crater behind on the ground as it could not hope to withstand such a powerful launch.

Once the boy was out of sight.. the Reaper trying to recover, "Hinata, from the right."

And with that, their opponent jerked to the side, forcing it to lean heavily on its left legs, leaving the more outstretched right legs exposed.

"Here we go." the Jonin got down on one knee as his mangekyo sharingan activated. His gaze directed at the right-side front leg of the reaper, aiming right at the joint closest to the body itself. He wasn't fooling himself, he couldn't possibly dismantle the entire reaper by his lonesome. One slice, one inch wide. "Kamui!"

It did not escape the massive opponent's notice that something was about to happen when reality suddenly started to distort, feeling as if a part of its body's being sucked into some kind of phenomenon that's not supposed to be there. The reaper attempted to twist and pull itself away from this strange event. It managed to get itself back upright, only to crash into the ground as Kakashi's eye technique severed one of its legs from the body.

Its cyclopean eye flickered wildly in confusion at what just happened. But in the midst of this, it discovered Kakashi's location and opened fire.

The Jonin's answer was simple as it opened up with its beam weapon. Jump. Air blasting at him as he dived into free-fall even as sections of the building above him were melted away by the incredible weapon of the foe he faced. Gradually, he guided himself to the wall and adhered to it for a safer final approach of the ground itself.

The Reaper's fire ended abruptly with the return of the Jinchuriki as they both slammed into its side and threw off its aim.

Kakashi used this opportunity as he got down to the ground and focused on the target. He could only use Kamui three times a day. But one more will suffice. Waiting for the weapon to charge up again before activating his technique again as a tiny patch of reality once again twisted and distorted, now happening directly in the middle of the reaper's glowing lens, and tore away a strip of the lens and components nine inches wide, and several feet long.

The damage made sure that the energy did not gather quite like it should. Unable to focus it properly, the beam fragmented and scattered madly, some of it inward. The Reaper staggered as its own weapon was blown apart along with most of its frontal armor from the misfire, leaving a gaping hole once the initial billow of smoke cleared.

And with that, it's time for checkmate. "Hinata, Naruto – Go!"

* * *

The ground just thirty feet behind him came apart as the teenagers rendezvoused from two completely separate locations. Both joining together from a near ninety degree turn respectively, in their charge for the hole that had just been opened wide across the front portions of the reaper's hull. A structural weakness they will use to its fullest.

Kakashi leaped out of the way just in time to watch the teens barrel their way past his position, moving on all four to maximize their speed. Right now, the reaper lay defenseless, but that did not mean they would treat it any differently as husks spilled out from the nearby alleys, trying to bar the way. To prevent the demonic-looking organics from getting any closer.

But in vain. As the two of them rushed through the resistance, and despite an attempt to shake them off, managed to climb and enter the hole. The whole ship screeching as the teenagers tore themselves through what remained of the front portions of its hull to get fully inside it. The reaper starting to convulse and wobble even more than before as soon as they succeeded.

The Jonin watched as this went on. Though he couldn't actually see them, he could clearly hear what's happening inside the ship. The screaming of metal being torn open like sheets of paper, increasingly desperate gunfire as husks on board tried to repel boarders. The monstrous roars that managed to make the ground outside shake almost more than the Reaper's own footsteps. In several places, the hull split apart, allowing fire and smoke to billow out as an unknown number of internal explosions rocked the ship.

It was a wonder that it had not yet started to beg for them to stop. Maybe they're just that proud, that even the faintest thought of submission to organics thoroughly disgusted them.

It ended when a large object was detached and thrown through the hull. Kakashi watched the object in question that sputtered sparks like a fountain even as it hit the road and rolled across the street haphazardly, covered in flickering lights that flared wildly, like a person trying to shout one last curse at those who beheaded him during the few seconds a head can survive without its body. Behind it, the ship tumbled limply to the ground like a ruined toy.

With a last few sparks, the object – the core of the Reaper ship – finally recognized its own defeat and died. Leaving behind a wreck unlike most.

Kakashi moved along the buildings over to the ruined ship and leaped onto it despite the few clumsy attempts of retaliation from the remaining husks below. Finding the teenagers just inside the hole they created and used to chuck the core out of, lying on top of a massive pile of assorted materials gathered from all the synthetics they destroyed in that room. Their tailed beast cloaks on the verge of dispersing due to exhaustion.

"That... was hectic." Naruto sighed tiredly, slapping away the skull of a marauder as he tried to rest.

"So y-you've said..." Hinata panted softly, trying to gather her hair onto her chest so as to avoid getting them stuck in the junk that the two of them currently used as a makeshift bed, "...five times... already."

"Aw, gimme a break." the boy laughed.

"Uh, kids." Kakashi suppressed a faint laugh of his own, "Wake up, there's still a few enemies to clear out before we're done. You can sleep once we get back to the Normandy." throwing a glance at the creatures outside. Without the Reaper around to direct them, they're no longer acting in a coordinate manner. More like a pack of mindless if dangerous animals.

"Aw, g-gimme a break.." the girl echoed her mate with an amused giggle, as if to a joke the Jonin could not hear.

Naruto pumped a fist into the air, apparently having gotten his frustrations out of the system for now, "That felt _so_ good."

Kakashi hummed with some amusement before he went to work. With the main subject of their attention dead, it took a bit of effort to get them going again to wipe out the remaining small fry. It would only take a little while further before the city became relatively secure. Or at least enough to search through and extract survivors from the more secluded shelters.

* * *

It was a rather short siege by all accounts. But Huygens dome had during that time been brought to the brink of collapse. Now standing on its very last leg. Shepard stood in the cockpit after two intensive hours of evacuating civilians. And all those who survived had been brought on board the MSV This side up. 'Only' a mere nine thousand people survived this siege. It did sound small considering that the dome city's population before the siege started used to stand at eighty thousand. At least in three of the locations where the shelters could be found; a search was committed, only to find them chock-full of dragon's teeth and husks. It went without saying that in every one of those cases, he and his team bid a hasty retreat.

He watched the Cargo ship as it slowly detached itself from dock and turned to leave. His expression grim. Waiting for it to clear the dome city before finally making sure that everyone's aboard, and to do that he turned and left for the CIC.

Along the way, not far from his position, Nagato stood along with Ashley and that girl; Tayuya. The Commander was still less than pleased about having her aboard.

Shepard checked the surveillance cameras on the crew's deck. Kakashi, A, and Kisame sat at the table in the back, reading some data pad that some crewman was kind enough to provide for them. A low-sounding argument going on. The teenagers slept rather heavily on each their bed, tired from the battle against the Reaper and its many minions.

The sight of the Reaper corpse inside the city was a real sight to behold. And that by itself helped convince him that this victory wasn't as hollow as it looked. It gave him a little bit of hope, a little toss in his direction in order to remind him that they _can_ be beaten.

Just as the Cargo ship left the atmosphere, he called for Joker to get the Normandy clear from the city while he sent a signal to a number of bombs he and his crew had planted in strategic locations, putting the timer on five minutes so they got enough time to get clear. He decided to destroy Huygens dome in order to annihilate all of the synthetics still inside in an act of scorched earth. To lower the number troops they'll be able to deploy on other fronts.

The Normandy barely left Titan's atmosphere before Huygens dome vanished in the middle of a widespread detonation that momentarily lit the moon's surface before fading away.

He watched the map on the CIC while his ship quickly joined up with the Cargo ship.

"Commander. I'm detecting incoming Reaper forces." Joker called in.

"How far out?" Shepard asked.

The pilot was silent as he checked with EDI.. "They're an hour away, at least."

"Ignore them. As soon as the Cargo ship's ready, we'll head straight for the relay." it did not even take a moment before the much larger ship jumped ahead of them. Joker did not even wait for the Commander's order before he initiated the jump sequence in turn with the enthusiasm of a kid trying to win a race.

The Commander shrugged, giving Nagato a glance before he approached the elevator. Three things remained for them to do for today. Bring the evacuees to the alliance fleet. Send a message to the Lance of the Six Paths to inform them of where they'll go next. And then head straight for the Citadel. The Council's rather low opinion of the Kalinin be damned.

"Joker. I'll be at my office. Call if anything happens." he muttered at last before venturing up to his room, with his trusted pilot's voice replying accordingly in a friendly manner.

"Will do, Commander. Good job today."

"... Thanks."

* * *

Author's notes: Thanks for the reviews. I really, **really** appreciate it.

Decided to have Kakashi shine a little in this chapter.

No interactions with Javik in this chapter, but there'll be a great deal more of it once they arrive at the Citadel. Which will happen... next chapter. *thumbs up* Stay tuned!


	46. Chapter 46

**Chapter 46**

* * *

It felt like some time had passed. He opened his eyes and peered at the ceiling of a brightly lit room, slightly dirty, but warm. A few broken panels and scrapes testified to a slightly elderly ship, or poorly kept. The lights flickered once, but held firm otherwise.

He tried to look around the room, which seemed to be an infirmary. He tried to move, and found no restraints. Nor had his armor been removed. He absently tried to reach for his weapon, though he already knew it wasn't even anywhere close to be found.

"You awake?" a female asked curiously from nearby.

Javik jerked himself up into an awkward sitting position as he tried to get his bearings. His head still rang from that strange experience with those aliens he met. And found the one he did manage to connect with sitting not far away from him. The one with that long blonde hair. It took him a moment to realize that she was trying to communicate with him in his own language, and with a very thick accent to it.

His eyes opened a little wider at such an amiable gesture, and that she managed to utter his language so clearly just a short while after they shared information.. "Don't." he verbally brushed the attempt off in the end, and felt a slight pang of regret because of it, "Don't strain yourself." he responded plainly in her language instead. Several seconds passed by in silence until he finally managed to utter the important question that he feared the answer to the most, "How many are left?"

She gazed at him quietly before she answered, ".. Just you."

Javik closed his eyes, and silently cursed Vendetta for the choice of procedure. Those two words weighed on him heavily. In just what felt like a few minutes to him, the hope of his people's survival had been reduced to nothing.

"So, he woke up just now?" the voice came from the door as another two girls entered.

"Hush, Tenten. He's grieving." Ino replied sternly. _Or at least I think so_... she was almost about to say, but managed to avoid it. This alien's pretty hard to read.

The other girl went ahead, "Four eyes. Each with dual pupils. So this guy's a Prothean then?"

"That much is obvious, Kurotsuchi." Tenten replied, shaking her head. "I've already told you that."

"But then I must ask, what are _you_? You're not humans, that much is for certain." Javik could see a big discussion between females brewing from a hundred parsec away. He needed to drive a wedge into it before it can kick off. He needed answers now. "Look, what happened back there. It was not natural."

"Natural...?" Tenten took a step forward, whether it was to make herself stand out or if it was a threatening move, he did not know. "Maybe you can tell me why I got that shock just because you _touched_ me?"

"That is what I want to know, all I saw in my vision was a hurricane! Such a thing..."

Tenten glowered at him, "What are you talking about? It felt like someone ran me through with an exposed power cord."

"Now now, kids." an old voice scratched through the room as the eldest on board the ship stepped in, "This is not the time for such hostile outbursts."

Javik looked upon the man – one greatly shrunken by age – as he approached with some perplexity. Both he, and especially the girls, stopped in an instant. Kurotsuchi stepped to the side to let him move on through unhindered. The prothean's could feel the aura of wisdom and authority radiating from him.

"Now then." Onoki said as he arrived at the bed next to the alien, and much to Javik's barely concealed surprise, levitated himself off the floor and onto it. "Now let's try to approach the issue at hand. I assume your species got some kind of special ability then, am I right?"

Ino looked like she wanted to say something, but chose against it. Normally, she's the type of girl who speaks whatever is on her mind. But this is all so completely new to her. So instead, she stayed silent and listened intently.

The prothean hummed, "It's an attribute of our physiology. All things, both living and non-living leave markers; knowledge and memories for those who can read them. My people's capable of exchanging both through physical touch."

"And for some reason, our bodies repel the process.." it wasn't a question. More a statement.

"Yes."

The old man waved a sinewy hand, "Did such a thing ever happen at any point during your people's history?"

"Just once." Javik answered, "Why?"

"Tell us about what happened that time, if you're able."

"... Long ago before I was born, my people found a species near the northern edge of the galaxy. We made contact. That's when it happened. The other species proved... too difficult for us to understand. It was the first, and only time our ability failed us. Contact ended as an abysmal failure.."

Onoki cut in before he could finish, "What did they call themselves, that other species?" looking like he just got a heavy feeling.

Javik hesitated, "They called themselves the Makers..."

"Ah, shit.." Tenten cursed softly, leaning against the wall.

"You know of them?" the prothean asked.

"Know of them?" Onoki laughed, "We only found out about them relatively recently. But... heh, how do I begin to say this?"

"Simply put.." Tenten paused, "After you tossed that infertility plague at them, they found and eventually chose us to carry on their legacy. They hid our existence from both your people, and eventually, the reapers."

Javik's eyes grew wider in recognition, "No wonder then..."

"But the specific reason's still not known." Onoki gruffly spoke, "Could it have something to do with chakra?" he directed the question more to the girls than anyone else.

"Chakra?"

"The energy that courses through our bodies. The Makers interfered with our evolution and gave us a chakra circulatory system." the old man replied. "Both a blessing, and a curse."

"Well..." Tenten began, bringing up a finger to scratch against her chin thoughtfully, "The Makers themselves did not have that system.. But it permeated the technology all around them. So, maybe it did interfere with the protheans' ability."

"I managed to establish a somewhat stable connection though." Ino decided to say.

Onoki gave them both a nod. "Alright. What did your people see when you tried it on the Makers? You described seeing a hurricane when you came in contact with us."

The prothean was taken a bit aback by all this information, and started digging through his memory.. "They did not see much.. Hmm. They saw an empty void, with a strange whirlwind in the distance, which they failed to approach."

The girls frowned, "Maybe it's got something to do with how much chakra is in the way?" Kurotsuchi muttered curiously.

"Maybe.." Tenten responded. Appearing a little more annoyed now that things got a little heavier.

"Then... since you managed to make contact with her. What did you see when you connected with Ino?" Onoki inquired further, tilting his head in the blonde girl's direction.

"The eye of the storm.." Javik nearly mumbled as he himself tried to make sense of it. Somehow with that girl, he managed to get past the wall of the storm.

"Maybe it's got something to do with my clan's techniques?" Ino asked as it occurred to her. She looked slightly incredulous, but nodded like it made sense. "Most of them are mind-related."

"That's it." Onoki grinned, "If not for your abilities acting as a conduit, he could have likely failed on you too."

Javik was mildly bewildered as he stood up, "If that's the case, if your species possess such abilities; why couldn't you?" he pointed at Tenten.

"Because those techniques are unique to my clan." Ino stated firmly, "Chakra allows us to do a whole lot of neat stuff. But many of us have our own abilities different from the rest."

The prothean shook his head and turned as if he was trying to wrap his head around it. His thoughts interrupted as a male's voice called out to them through the ship's intercom.. "We're approaching the relay now."

Onoki shook his head at that drawl, "Proceed."

"We're going somewhere?" Ino asked.

"Yes. Kakashi and the rest are on board the Normandy with Shepard, and are now headed to the Citadel. They managed to get out of Sol despite a massive reaper presence."

That got the alien's attention, "The reapers?" he cursed under his breath at his misfortune. Not only did he wake up without his people, but in the middle of the invasion of this cycle. "Tell me, when did they start attacking?"

"Don't know. For us, they started appearing just hours ago. A whole lot of them passed through this system not long ago." the old man replied coarsely as he got down from the bed, "But it seems like they're focusing most of their effort on Sol for now. The Citadel's still safe."

"We're not exactly welcome in the Citadel..." Tenten muttered, not very pleased with their present heading.. "So why are we going there?"

"Because Shepard believes that prejudice is the least of anyone's concern right now. And I just happened to agree."

"I don't like it, gramps." Kurotsuchi shook her head.

"I'm not _asking_ you to like it, granddaughter." he groaned in reply as he moved on to the door. Looking even older than he is. "Ah, miss the old days when things weren't this complicated."

"And how long ago was that? A hundred million years ago?" Kurotsuchi poked at him. The girls quickly shared in a giggle.

"What am I, a trilobite?" he nearly snapped at her. Just barely keeping himself from whirling around, and effort that would only had been detrimental to his hips. "... Anyway, what will you do now, prothean?"

Javik frowned as he glared down at the old man who gazed back just as intensively. Slowly, the prothean stood at his full height. As erect as a mountain. His eyes darkening as he thought about it before answering, "I am the voice of a dead people crying out for vengeance. If the reapers are invading, then I will fight to end them. And make sure that my voice is the last they hear as they are hurled into their graves."

The old one cracked a grin at such a vow, "Well said, prothean. We're going to get along just fine. But you better make yourselves ready – all of you – for when we arrive at the Citadel. There's going to be a great effort up ahead, and many questions will need answering. And there are many more than I can name that will look forward to meeting a live prothean." and then finally turned and left. Probably back to the bridge.

"Oh, that kinda reminds me. What's your name?" Ino asked after Onoki's departure.

The prothean blinked as his gaze drifted back to the girls. Visibly contemplating, until finally deciding that there's no harm in replying to such a harmless request, "Javik."

* * *

Shepard sighed tiredly as he made his way past the airlock, crossing over into the local lounge on the Citadel. Only advancing a few paces before peering out the window at where the Normandy's docked. Inhaling deeply as he took in he view before turning to regard the traffic going on around the area. It looked like the galaxy finally got it through their thick skulls that the reapers are the real deal, and a serious threat as the news broadcasts kept bringing in details of what's going on around the galaxy since the reapers started attacking. One particularly interesting piece of information being that they started their invasion by rampaging through batarian space. Now there's a massive influx of refugees because of it.

It did little to paint a bright image of it all. Just bad news for now. And there's a lot of refugee ships taking up docking areas. It took a while to find one available for the Normandy. Apparently refugees from all over the galaxy sees this as the safest place, despite the absence of a defending fleet. The Alliance ships that used to defend the station had been recalled by Hackett to shore up the fleets.

The Destiny Ascension also appeared to be strangely absent.

All that made the Citadel look more like a trap than anything else, should the reapers decide to come here.

One particular area of the lounge seemed strangely empty though. And quickly saw the reason. Nagato and the rest left the Normandy before he could, and had taken position close to the window. Officers from C-Sec and some civilians recognized a few of them.. and remembering what happened the last time they were here, immediately evacuated the area quietly. And suddenly the kalinin had a whole section of the lounge all to themselves.

Nagato along with Kisame and A appeared to be actively conversing with one another, while Naruto and Hinata stood by the window hand in hand.. peering at the Zakera ward, which was still damaged enough to be seen from this far away despite diligent work to repair the station. Kakashi stood close to them. He was obviously awed by the station, but maintained a protective stance around the teens.

_Guess I shouldn't be surprised_, he thought. Though not many supported the council's decision about them, they're still wary.

He could almost feel the air moving as someone ran past him in a great hurry. The smallest turn of his head revealed the person to be Tayuya. "And where do you think _you're_ going?" he asked. More sternly than intended, but with no regret.

The girl slowed down to a halt, "Where do you think? I'm done here."

Shepard found himself grasping at where his pistol was supposed to be, only to remind himself that he left the ship unarmed. She noticed that obvious motion, her gaze deepening into a scowl.

"Look." she took a step closer, "You should be _thanking_ me and my lord graciously. I've brought to Nagato's crew, and you and your fellow plastic soldiers some neat new toys that will help you against the reapers. Go on, ask Nagato about those things. After that, let's see if you're capable of showing some actual gratitude."

The Commander's eyes darkened and suddenly reached out and grabbed the girl by her throat. "_Gratitude_? After all you've done?"

Tayuya fell back half a step and coughed as the man's hand curled around her throat like a vice, yet she quickly found her voice again as her eyes narrowed dangerously, "Get your fucking hand off of me, asshole." she growled harshly, as her skin darkened in turn, with a set of horns growing out of her head. Her eyes turning black and yellow while her hair length greatly increased. More a demon than a girl glaring back at him now, "My lord forbade me from killing you. But he probably won't chastise me too much if I went and broke your arm for your insolence."

Shepard winced at such a transformation, but nevertheless leaned closer, staring right into her eyes. Every time he looked into them, he could see the images of the fatally wounded Tali that was conjured by Tayuya's illusions.. and could with equal clarity see Kaidan's saddened gaze as he was brought back as a living dead and forced to fight.

They continued to glare at one another with hatred and vehemence. Neither willing to step down. It was only stopped as the surrounding civilians cleared away from what looked like the start of a fight between the one they recognized as Shepard, and a kalinin. A motion followed by an officer approaching the two of them, tapping a finger against the commander's shoulder, "Excuse me, sir. But I need you to let go of her, right now."

Surprised, he took his eyes off the girl.. "What...?"

The officer in question – a turian – glanced about nervously, "You're causing a public disturbance by assaulting this girl. And... she's an ally of the Council." tilting his head as to gesture to the emblem on her suit.

His scowl returned as he turned back to the girl. His hand tightening around her throat for a single moment. Her hands curling into fists to retaliate if he tightened his grip any further.

"S-sir.."

Slowly, he released the girl, if only with extreme reluctance.

"Tch." was all she replied with to that motion, as if disappointed. She whirled around on the spot and left through the checkpoint up ahead. And much to Shepard's disgust, a few even stopped to salute her.

"Why do you kowtow to such people?" Shepard asked.

The turian frowned, "And what about the relationship between you and the renegades?" he countered, "They ruined a ward, and endangered a lot of people."

"And they've saved countless lives too. They were vital in destroying the collectors."

"True, true." the officer replied with a droning tone, "But so will the loyalist faction through their numerous contributions that will help strike the reapers down."

"And how do you know they won't turn against you?"

He scoffed before walking away to resume his duties, "The council got everything under control. You're just being unnecessarily paranoid."

"If only that's true." Shepard shook his head, about to move on when someone suddenly addressed him as a woman appeared from the corner of his eyes as if she had been conjured from thin air.

"Commander Shepard? I'm Diana Allers, war correspondent."

He groaned inwardly, and reluctantly turned to face the woman in question, "What is it? I don't really have a good track record with journalists."

"I know." Diana shrugged, "But that can change." she noted with great positivity.

Outwardly, Shepard payed stark attention to what the woman as she talked about her job, that she wanted to be stationed on the Normandy, and the benefits of having a correspondent along. But a tiny inside part of him zoned out during it all. He quietly recognized that he's worse with journalists than he thought.

Eventually, he got the word in; "Alright. There's an available room on the engineering deck. Get situated and we'll see how it goes. Any trouble though..."

Diana crisply saluted, "Thank you, Commander. And don't worry, I won't be getting in your way."

He gave her a nod, and she quickly vanished from sight as she went to have her crew set up the equipment she'll be needing on the ship. And left the man standing there for a moment until Nagato decided to approach him. With a sigh, he turned to address the kalinin, "Have you consulted the tower yet?"

"It's not necessary. The ship's inbound and we know which dock it's heading into." Nagato shook his head even as the rest of the group moved on past them.

Not knowing how in the world they managed to find that out without contacting the tower, he in his perplexity could only nod and follow. Thinking that he will be answered soon enough.

* * *

Balak wasn't pleased as he watched the docks, and all the hundreds of fellow Batarians huddled amidst the assortment of containers and habitation-modules that had been provided. Rage swelled within the core of his being at what his people had become, but it was better than despair.

It all started with the discovery of the Leviathan of Dis. That at least had become clear enough. The wreck of an ancient spaceship. Which studies were pushed ahead of schedules after a series of setbacks caused by one individual; Shepard.

He cursed that name like it's one belonging to an accursed demon ever since Terra Nova, where he was stopped from destroying the alliance colony. The human's status as a demon became all the truer after the devastation of the Bahak system.

The Leviathan was studied intensively in the wake of that as war loomed in the horizon. Only for it to become the first of an entire list of tragedies that ended with the destruction of the hegemony at the hands of the invading reapers, and the reduction of his people to scattered refugees. And its military reduced to just a shadow of its former self.

And he blamed all of his people's recent misfortune on Shepard.

Now, he's the only remaining high-ranking officer. And thus the leader of the batarian remnants. A job he only accepted reluctantly. And here he stood, inside a circle of habitation containers, around a makeshift table from where he received the most recent reports. Both from refugees. And from remaining military forces through channels of Citadel space he and his cronies had hacked and put to use. Old diplomatic channels dating all the way back to when batarians ceased to have an embassy here on the Citadel.

He and his subordinates circling the table watched and listened intently to the report given by the Commanding officer of a wolf-pack of frigates that had just arrived in Alliance space in the wake of another batch of refugee ships that had managed to hurl themselves out of the hegemony. Fleeing from both the reapers, and the government that had betrayed them all.

Finally, once the report was finished.. Balak provided the coordinates for a fallback position. "Bring the refugees there, and then rejoin the remaining elements of the fleet. If any refugees are willing to enlist, let them, and bring them along."

The officer in question snapped to attention. "Yes, sir."

_If only hate alone could kill_, Balak thought bitterly as he closed the transmission and pushed himself away from the table. Seeking a place where he could sit down and think.

"Sir!" one of the guards came. Balak looked at the improvised 'entrance' of this circle of containers and saw Aarak gesturing for him to come.

"This had better be important, Aarak." Balak growled.

"It is.." the guard replied, "Hurry!"

Balak wrinkled his brows... all four of them. Stood up and moved to see what the soldier thought so interesting. He and a few others left the circle and gazed through the window on the far end as a familiar spearhead-shaped ship eased itself into view. An old batarian cruiser, one of the older ship designs. He gaped a little as it moved in to dock. He looked to his subordinates, "What are you fools waiting for? Move." them quickly following him as he started passing through the crowd.

Most of them fellow refugees. Most of which either cleared out of the way in a hurry, or ignored the group of determined four-eyed aliens. And those who did not move, Balak shoved brusquely out of the way.

Old ship or not, he wanted it sent to the front without delay.

He grunted softly as he kept up his pace as the ship pulled ahead of them and settled into Dock thirteen on the far side of the docks in this area. But from the ship far ahead, did not come the expected batarian crew, but a small crowd of humans.

Balak cursed harshly as he continued on his approach, hoping that those loathsome humans just happened to be close to the docking entrance.

* * *

"Another reunion." Onoki grumbled tiredly to Mei as they watched Ino, Tenten and Shikamaru move on ahead while the rest stayed at the entrance. The former moving much quicker to meet with another two old friends as Nagato's group appeared just ahead.

But Mei did not appear to be troubled in the slightest as she shrugged, "Don't mind them. To see someone they never thought to see ever again.. It's always like that. And it will happen again when another dead joins the living."

"What luxury.." they could hear Javik mutter as he approached them from the ship's interior. Only managing that sentence as he quietly marveled at the Citadel without letting any sign of awe cross his face. She could understand why he felt so bitter. A way to return the dead to life, and no bodies available to use.

The woman chuckled gently as she looked back at the teens, as Hinata and Ino embraced one another. Laughter colored the air, a welcoming feature to an area that was otherwise drenched in gloom, and sadness. The reunion pulling the attention of more than just a few eyes from the refugees that filled the distance.

"You're coming along, right?" Mei asked the prothean.

He certainly did not seem to see any reason why he shouldn't. In fact, he wanted to see the council if possible. "Yes."

"Don't move in too big a crowd, Mizukage." Onoki warned her in turn.

But she brushed him off – though in a polite manner – as she moved to join the throng up ahead, followed closely by Javik, who seemed content to remain in the shadows, even though it did not take long to pull some curious glances from people passing by. The kalinin at least had the luxury of resembling humans, but Javik stuck out like a sore thumb in a place where batarians are the only ones with four eyes.

Mei's eyes weren't focused on the surrounding refugees though. Not on Kisame or Nagato. Not A. Not even on Shepard, who simply stood there and regarded the gathering crowd. But on the reunion they all watched. Joyful tears escaping Ino's eyes as she was overwhelmed by emotions as she met still more of those she thought she'd never see again back during the war in the last moments of her life. Hinata embracing her warmly while Naruto, Shikamaru and Tenten watched with smiles on their faces.

In a place as dreary as this. Filled with victims of the reapers as the loathsome machines continued to rampage throughout the stars. This little meeting was a sight of pure delight. "Heartwarming, is it now?" she asked Javik, who's attention had been drawn elsewhere, when commotion suddenly erupted from the crowd, as a bunch of batarians stomped into view. Looking momentarily confused until one of them saw a certain human being.. and pulled out a gun while opening his mouth to shout in a rush of raw anger;

"Shepard!"

* * *

He wrinkled his brows as his name was suddenly shouted with such hostility, but turned to the direction of the voice just in time for a bullet to fly past his head.. just an inch off his left ear. He missed deliberately, just to forcefully direct all of his attention to the origin of the shot, where he saw a group of batarians... one of them with a very familiar face. A very hated face. Thoughts quickly surfacing that took him all the way back to Terra Nova..

"... Balak?"

The kalinin did not react immediately to the sudden show of aggression, but the adults among them immediately took up defensive position between the apparent enemy, and the young. Shepard wondered quietly if it's an automatic response.

"You should have killed me on that asteroid over Terra Nova." Balak snorted with great resentment, tilting his head slightly to the right while doing so, a rude gesture among his people. "I've been waiting for this. Everything that happened to my people is your fault!"

Shepard glowered back at him, silently cursing himself for not bringing a weapon once again. But did not let that stop him, "What are you talking about? All I did was stop you from killing millions."

"Yes, but after you ruined my plans, my government accelerated the research on the Leviathan of Dis."

"The Leviathan of Dis...? The organic dreadnaught your people recovered from Jartar?" the Commander asked. He often payed attention to events of particular. Especially since they are often documented. The information easily accessible through the galactic codex. A one billion years old ship. A celebrated discovery followed quickly by a scandal when the batarians removed it, and then acted as if it never existed. Yet another black spot on their record, one of the latest in a long list of grievances perpetrated across thousands of years.

"The same..." Balak growled harshly with a nod. "We wanted to reclaim our rightful place in this galaxy, many of our best scientists enlisted..."

"It was a reaper, wasn't it?" Shepard cut in and asked as the realization came. The reason that the hegemony fell so quickly suddenly lay bare before him, "Your scientists were indoctrinated.. followed by your leaders.."

"Yes. Our own people turned on us, defense grids were deactivated. Our own ships fired on allied targets. We were destroyed from within even as the reapers closed in all around us! All because of you..." venom dripping from his voice as he hammered the final words in. "We were a proud race, a beautiful race-"

"And you're wasting time by childishly looking for a scapegoat..." another voice spoke up as an alien stepped away from Mei. Glaring at Balak, who momentarily took a step back in surprise as he for the first time stared at a non-batarian being with four eyes instead of just two. "... Instead of trying to help what's left of your people, and the galaxy."

Shepard was momentarily taken aback as he finally noticed this particular alien, who resembled a collector, but with much more wholesome features, and blood-red armor that looked as ancient as it's advanced. Its four eyes – gleaming with intelligence honed by countless battles – boring into those present.

Balak's attention had turned almost entirely to this newcomer, though his gun was still aimed at Shepard, "I'm the highest ranking officer left in the hegemony, and I can't even save my own people. If Shepard hadn't-"

"Your people would have fallen regardless." the being responded firmly, relentlessly glowering into Balak's eyes like he was trying to burn a quartet of holes through his head. "One race against a galactic invasion fleet. No one species can withstand such might. You're naught but a fool for thinking otherwise."

"He's right." Shepard said in turn. Not sure who the alien he's agreeing with is, but somehow felt it could be trusted. "Didn't the reaper invasion start in hegemony space? You stood directly between them and the rest of the galaxy."

"We were the greatest power in the galaxy! If you hadn't-!" Balak protested.

"If you were the greatest power, then why did you insist on fighting a war through the use of nothing but terrorists and pirate gangs throughout the conflict against us?" Shepard asked right back, "You were a paper tiger at best."

"You're in no position to talk down to us, human!" the batarian leader bit with much venom added to the name. His grip on his gun tightened. "We could have had-!"

"Beaten the reapers?" the other alien shook his head, "You overestimate yourselves. My people were also arrogant, believing we could beat them without difficulty. Look at where my people are now.. all dead, and I was left alone to speak to the races of this cycle on their behalf. The only way to defeat the reapers, are to realize the extent of your abilities. Realize your limitations, and combine your strength with all other races. Against the reapers, it's together, or die."

Shepard stared at the newcomer with realization. The alien's head looking very similar to that of a collector. His eyes widened as realization slowly dawned, but couldn't believe it.

By this time, the surrounding area had grown quiet as the surrounding crowds watched the exchange. Turians, humans, asari, salarians, hanar, elcor, kalinin and many others alike murmuring amongst themselves as a stunned silence descended on the area in the wake of this strange new alien finishing what he just said. Standing there, seemingly immune to the tension that had built up until it's ready to burst apart like a frag grenade.

Balak glared into the alien's eyes, but found himself facing difficulties. Other races often had difficulties getting the upper hand in conversations with batarians due to not knowing which eyes to focus on. But this was different, he found himself trying to figure out which half of those dual-pupils he needed to focus on. But was at the same time taken aback by the sheer solemnity of the alien's glare. The type of eyes that had seen horrors beyond imagining. Despite his bravest attempt, Balak wavered before it. "Who... what are you?" he asked, his voice tamer than intended.

The alien flashed the slightest hind of smile before it disappeared into yet another angry frown. Not answering at first as he glanced at the surrounding crowds before his eyes found Balak again. "I am called Javik. A Prothean."

Not far away, Tenten wiped a hand against her forehead just before plugging her ears.. "Oh, here we go..." just before the entire station shook as the silence was utterly shattered by the pandemonium that followed.

* * *

Author's note: 100th review, woot. My thanks to those reading the story. :)

That little celebration aside.. One little note from what Javik said, about the importance of knowing one's limitations. Often talked about in manga about individuals. But it works for armies as well. Several races in fiction goes about talking about how great they are, and in possession of limitless manpower among other things. Overestimation, arrogance. To fight the enemy with all their might, but without knowing one's limitation, they end up throwing their whole army away with a poorly thought plan. Stubbornly believing that they can't possibly lose. But then they finally realize their mistake and tries to rectify it, only to find there's nothing left to draw upon.

Fight smart and take your enemy seriously. Respect their capability. Know what you can do and can't do. And make sure to do a thorough job. Half-measures will not suffice.

But oh well. Thoughts straying, so moving on: Next chapter, more interactions with Javik, and more encounters.


	47. Chapter 47

**Chapter 47**

* * *

Total chaos embraced the crowd as they cried out collectively and surged forward with expressions of terror, fear, awe, desperation for a faint hope; hoping he has come with an answer to the reaper problem. Balak vanished in the crowds like a rock in a tidal wave, and it the kalinin were quick to follow suit. The prothean's and Shepard's positions would have been swamped too, if some nearby C-Sec officers did not have the presence of mind to deal with the situation. They spilled into the area and used themselves to create a wall between themselves and the two. Others coming from across the dock to break up and calm down the rampant crowd before a riot breaks out.

"Commander Shepard?" an elderly human approached him, a high-ranking member of C-Sec from the looks of it; "Commander Bailey, of C-Sec operations, and diplomatic liaison."

"Thank you for the assist, sir." Shepard replied swiftly, turning to look for the prothean, and found him, just standing there quietly. Observing the aliens within the crowd.

"I was sent to bring you to the Council chamber. A major Council meeting's currently ongoing, and they want you to attend." Bailey told him plainly, "But I guess it's going to become more complicated than that, from the looks of it." …. "Prothean, huh? Thought they were all dead."

"This one obviously isn't." Shepard whispered, partly to himself. And before he knew what he was doing, approached the alien – who saw him coming almost instantly.

"Wait, commander." Bailey tried to stop him, "Contact protocols.."

"I don't think he came all the way here, alongside the kalinin on top of that, just to make trouble." Shepard did not hesitate to reply before addressing the four-eyed alien, "Did you?"

"That... depends on you." Javik said, abruptly grabbing Shepard by his arm the moment he came within arm's reach. The human did not know what happened, but it felt like he was being read on a level only matched by some of the asari he encountered over the years. "I sense... anxiety, and fear. The reapers are winning. And yet there is relief in you..." the prothean looked away, scanning the crowd as if looking for someone. "About the kalinin? They're so close to extinction, yet you somehow believe they might turn the tide of this war?"

"You mean you don't know?" Shepard asked with surprise.

"Know... what?" Javik asked rather impatiently.

"About what they're capable of?" the glare he received in return told clearly that he did not. "Will you join the fight?"

"Against the reapers?"

"Yes."

Javik huffed, "Then we'll see. But first, I wish to see the ruling council of this cycle."

* * *

Mei ignored the swarming crowds as much as she could. Turning to her comrades while deciding who should come with her. Though more for personal escorting reasons than not. "Hey, pay attention! Naruto, Ino and Kakashi.. You three come with me, the rest of you get back to the ship."

Hinata did not seem all too pleased about being split up like that, "B-but!" the girl tried to protest. And Naruto did likewise without hesitation.

The mizukage smiled pleasantly as she placed a hand on the Hyuga's head. Raising her voice as the volume of noise around them increased, "I understand you don't like the sound of it, but please bear with it. We want to avoid an incident like last time, however faint the possibility. And we could do with heavy firepower on either end, should the situation go sour."

Naruto seemed to contemplate this, "I don't like it.. but... okay." he said with some hesitation.

Hinata nodded in turn, "A-Alright."

Shikamaru shrugged as he turned to go back to the ship, relieved that the woman did not pick him. "Take it easy you guys, it's only for a few hours."

Next to the entrance to the ship, A had already positioned himself like a bouncer, watching as the Nara.. "One days you'll understand."

"Gimme a break, such a drag.." the boy replied as he dragged himself back into the ship, followed sharply by Tenten with a gleam to her eyes, her expression settling into a grimace.

Shikamaru released a loud yelp when the girl overtook him just a couple of seconds afterward.

Mei shook her head, "Alright then. All of you ready to go?"

"Yeah, just give me a moment to pick up Javik first." Ino called out after the others had given their nods. Unintentionally treating the prothean like a lost cat.

"He's probably with Shepard up ahead."

"Hope the crowds won't be a problem then.." she said, eying the chaotic condition around them despite C-Sec's attempts to stop it. Those at the front being angry at being kept away from the prothean, while those in the back are becoming desperate and pushing steadily forward. All the hanar seemed to have whipped themselves into a religious frenzy as they tried to find a way through, flashing like traffic lights.

Kakashi shrugged with no concern apparent; "There's always the ceiling... and the walls."

"Then that's our route." Mei said as she approached the closest wall, gesturing for the rest to follow. Her massive ankle-length auburn hair flowing behind her. Everyone else hoped quietly no one would try to grab onto it in their attempt to pass the guards. Unknowing that their immediate thoughts matched perfectly with on another.

But it was much less daunting once they had actually gotten onto the walls, moving along almost casually as if it's ground. The prior concern of the others vanishing into thin air as people merely gazed at them with a mix of wonder and terror. No one tried to grab any of them during this little trip. Some C-Sec muttered about the lack of gravity boots on their part. More than a few of them quietly hoping that no more aliens get the ability to move around like that. Stopping a riot's hard enough on just one surface.

Up ahead, Mei could see Shepard and Javik staring back at the approaching group. Their lead giving a pleasant wave. An officer standing next to the two did not appear pleased though, more like pretty miffed.

"You can't just go and avoid C-Sec like that, young miss." the officer in question; Bailey being his name according to the name plate upon his chest. Mei blushed slightly at being called _young_. She's in her thirties despite how she looks.

"My... apologies, officer." she replied with a cough, "But there's no time to wait till the crowd clears away."

"Good to have you here. I got a million questions right now that needs answering." Shepard greeted her with a smile. Though slightly confounded by how she can approach so casually, considering the prothean's overwhelming presence.

The woman smirked almost playfully, "Now now.. I believe all will be answered at the meeting. I'm certain the council will want to... ahem... interview him."

"You hurt anywhere, Javik?" Ino approached the alien, still treating him like a lost cat. Much to his mild annoyance, though having no clue what a _cat_ is.

"I'm fine." Javik nearly huffed as he shot a glance at the closest wall, as if trying to drive imaginary daggers through it. At the whole wall-walking thing, he did not say a word. Probably keeping questions inside. The whole chakra issue still confused him, though he'd never outright admit it.

Bailey watched the peculiar situation as it just kept on developing. In the end, he decided to cut in; "Now then, if you're quite finished.. I got a car ready to bring you to the Citadel tower."

"Good." Javik responded simply and walked for the exit.

Shepard and the others watched him, "Then let's go. The sooner we leave, the better." he said finally. With a snort of agreement coming from Naruto. The sooner they finish with the meeting, the sooner they'll return. And all as one, they promptly left for the car, leaving Bailey to administer a few more orders before following suit.

* * *

Hidan laughed as he watched the news on one of the many screens that filled the makeshift lab on board the ship. Currently showing the insanity going on just outside, "Ah, what I would have given to join the throng."

"You'd only get us all into trouble if you get carried away." Konan said as she entered the room. Being dangerously low on paper to use for combat, she had little choice but to stay on the ship and observe. Or at least until she get the chance to resupply. "The humans behaving so far?" her eyes focused on a pair of them who was chatting with one another until noticing her glare and immediately went back to work.

The man directed his attention to the Mattock he held, "They'd work harder if I had something more well-suited. A scythe's more intimidating... Did you know that one of the personifications of death in human mythology happen to be a guy with a scythe?" he asked with a creeping grin, "Tenten was going to make one, but things keep getting in the way.." the shoulders slumped, "Never going to get the chance to stack up on sacrifices at this rate."

"Is that so?" Konan hummed, browsed through the bingo-book she brought. It was among the store of artifacts Cerberus had gathered from their home world. Checking the profiles listed in it, and trying to match them with the faces of the ones the scientists are working to revive now. Checking for unsavory people. Funny coming from a former member of Akatsuki, but there's some real twisted folks out there. "But Kurotsuchi would prefer that you refrain from going back to old habits."

"Shit. I know. But that's how I fight." Hidan replied harshly. "An old dog like me prefer to stick with the old tricks."

"You're not that old a guy, though." Konan chuckled as Nagato came in, "Welcome back. Guess Mei thought it unnecessary for you to come along."

"She'll take care of it. Besides, it's mostly observation." Nagato replied calmly as he stepped in and accepted the bingo-book as the woman handed it over.

Hidan released a short laugh at that, "We can just as easily observe it here." and switched channel from one to another.. jumping across one showing a purple dancing dinosaur along the way before finally settling on the right one; Now watching the ongoing galactic meeting in the Council chambers. The big one Mei and Nagato wrecked once. The discussions dealing with current events, including yet another battle currently happening close to Palaven. The planet just could not catch a break it seems. "So that's a waste."

"Perhaps. But there are things we can't pick up by just watching the proceedings from here.. But quite seriously..." Nagato grimaced awkwardly.. "...how in the world did you come across a prothean?"

"Go and ask Onoki or Tenten that if you want a full and clear image of what's happened." then she gestured at the screen, "Otherwise, watch and everything will soon be revealed."

"...Fine." he sighed.

"By the way; are the returnees doing alright?"

"Hmpf... they're talking with Onoki just outside the airlock. Who's the blonde girl by the way?"

"You don't remember her?" Konan shook her head slowly, "She's a part of Naruto's old gang.. The one from the Yamanaka family, remember?"

The man hummed as he thought about it with a hand positioned underneath his chin. There were many groups and teams that distinguished themselves both before and during the war. It was difficult to remember them all though, "Yeah... I think so. But anyway, have you identified these new ones?" quickly browsing through the bingo-book.

"No.. they're either common folk or among the less renowned shinobi. We don't possess a full register anyway, so it's impossible to make sure. All we can do is wait for them to wake up."

Nagato drooped slightly, "I see..."

Hidan said nothing, his eyes on the screen. Flashes of cameras going on. Lines of journalists and fellow news' crews paying rapt attention from the spectator stands. Far away though, there seemed to be a growing commotion. Even a knucklehead like him knew that meant something's coming up. Special guests or event. "Think they've arrived already." the image shifting to display a couple of people. A fellow covered by a dark cloak, and a young girl. Guards at the location just barely kept the surrounding folks from rushing in for a closer look.

"Tayuya..." Nagato pointed at the girl.. "Then the one next to her ought to be Kabuto... or Madara."

The two of them proceeded no further than the fountain at the start of the area, turning to face the elevators, as if waiting for someone.

"I guess we'll see soon enough."

* * *

Back on the Normandy, Joker already watched the news as the Council meeting continued. But he was rapidly growing tired of all the doom and gloom as the politicians brought in details about the war. The planets attacked or besieged, the number of casualties and so on. Many crying for help or wallowing in hopelessness, "Seriously... go and grow a backbone, or something!" he groaned, feeling a need to throw something at the screen for a moment. Preferably as long as the motion won't break his arm, that is.

"They'll get their acts together eventually. To most of these people, the war started like it's its own jack-in-a-box."

Joker craned his neck to track that voice to its origin; the news reporter who arrived and set up shop earlier today. It looked like she's been touring around the Normandy, and asking random crew members before arriving just in time to see the ship's pilot exclaim a complaint about the state of politics. "Get their acts together? We've tried to warn those idiots about the reapers for years, and now they're running around like headless chickens, trying to compete over who's the most negative one. They're yapping away without thinking about public morale they might already be crashing."

"To most people, the reapers look like invincible monsters. Implacable and all that. The machine that attacked the Citadel years ago. It took a whole fleet to bring it down, and they did so just barely."

"I know, I was the one who put the killing round through it."

"But then you know."

Joker put that thought to mind, "So you're saying the attitude is because of how tough they are? What if there was a way to show them a case where one of their number was destroyed with ease?"

The attractive woman did no waste time wondering about that. "Yes. Implacability only lasts until people see the enemy knocked out."

"So if we use some nice footage, we might turn everything around?"

Diana hummed as her thoughtful eyes settled on the pilot, "It almost sounds like you got something up your sleeve."

Joker coughed a laugh, "Hell yeah. Got some really nice footage from what went on back on Titan, in Huygens dome. Want to see one that involve kalinin, fighting and killing a reaper on foot?"

It took several seconds for her to digest that sentence, her eyes widening. "Show me."

The pilot did not hesitate to dance a hand over the controls until an additional screen popped up, showing the footage he managed to record, pieced together through the use of surveillance cameras. Though not held back much by the resulting odd angles. Diana leaned down to watch, and was silent for a while until she finally said breathlessly while turning to look at the pilot,"This is... amazing."

"So how about it? It wasn't beaten conventionally, but it proves that the reapers can be killed."

"Yes... I could use this for next newscast later today."

Joker turned that down though, "Why even wait that long? Try to convince your superiors to do one right now, or as soon as possible."

"I don't know... Our number of viewers won't be nearly as high right now because of the Council meeting."

"Which is why I'll have EDI, the ship's... VI..." he avoided the AI label for obvious reasons. "... hack into the Citadel tower and even show the newscast to them bunch of suits."

Diana's eyes widened until they nearly popped out as she stared at him for such daring, "Can your VI really do that? Wouldn't such an act be...?"

"Hey, intrusion's a reporter's romance, isn't it? They shout each other down, we shout them all down. Besides,we're just going to show them something nice."

"...Alright..." she spoke slowly, "I'll go and have a chat with my boss, and see if we can set this up post-haste."

"Do that, I'll have EDI open the road for us."

With that, the woman left the cockpit, leaving the pilot as he turned to EDI's holographic avatar. "You sure about this, Jeff?" the AI asked.

"A hundred percent sure. Just get it done." he paused for a moment.. "Oh, and send a message to the Lance of the Six Paths, and ask for one of them to join us. We could need some commentary to explain a couple of things about the encounter."

The AI was silent for a second, "Message sent."

"All right. Once everything's ready, we'll give those suits something to think about."

* * *

"Shepard, at last..."

The Commander just left the spacious elevator along with the rest when a hooded man addressed him. His eyes settling into a scowl at seeing Tayuya yet again, but managed to focus on the man she's with. "Who're you?"

"Ah, where are my manners...?" he chuckled while pulling his hood away. His spectacles hiding the eyes for an instant. "I believe an introduction's in order."

Shepard narrowed his eyes at the man's odd skin, as if covered in snake-like scales. But before the stranger could introduce himself, Naruto rushed past him in a burst of anger; "Kabuto, you-!"

"Hoh. You've sure grown quite a bit since I last saw you, Naruto." Kabuto replied with a sly grin.

The boy nearly snarled in disgust at the criminal acting like they're on friendly terms. And was about to attack when Kakashi grabbed the boy by his collar. "This is not a good time, Naruto.. Look." his sensei spoke, gesturing towards the press filling the area ahead.

"But...!" Naruto almost cried out in protest.

"He's right. Restrain yourself.." Mei told him strictly.

The boy glared back angrily before finally relenting, and only with extreme reluctance. Kakashi pulled him slowly to the back, where Ino was close to striking him upside the head for his thoughtless recklessness.

"Did you came here to gloat?" Shepard asked. To be perfectly honest, the only business he wanted to with Kabuto involved a handgun. And cursed himself for not bringing one yet again.

"Oh no no no. I just wanted to see the man who's responsible for foiling our plans with my own eyes." the bespectacled man responded with amusement in his tone. "Though thinking back, you're the one who gave us all a second chance at life."

"So you're trying to settle on whether you should hate me, or feel thankful?"

"I can settle on both with no difficulty whatsoever." Kabuto chuckled. "Right now though, we're on the same side. So let's get along." and slowly turned to move on ahead.

Shepard took a step closer and placed a firm hand on Kabuto's shoulder with great severity behind it, "Just for the record, I don't trust you any further than I can throw this station."

The kalinin paused for an instant. And brushed the hand off nonchalantly before leaving with Tayuya remaining close, "Of course. Trust needs to be earned after all."

"What plans?" Javik directed the question at Ino, who shook her head in response.

"I don't know everything myself."

"Guess we'll have to establish a routine to explain thoroughly to new revivals all that's happened." Mei gave the blonde a sympathetic look. "Feel free to attend if you'd like, Javik."

The prothean nodded once, "If it answers my questions, I'll consider it."

* * *

Tevos gazed at her frustrated turian colleague as the subject of the current matter pressed on. Most of the assembly watched silently, hundreds of diplomats, politicians being present, along with spokespersons from recently joined factions, such as the batarian remnants.

"- And the situation continues to deteriorate at an alarming rate. Palaven, and the Humans' home world so heavily besieged by reaper forces. And despite this precarious situation, you still persist in keeping your fleet idle. Why_ is_ that, Dalatrass?" Sparatus asked at length, focusing his glare on the current leader of the Salarian Union.

Tevos did not even bother to look at Valern, who remained largely silent. Shifting uncomfortably.

Dalatrass was unfazed, even as her surrounding subordinates cringed under the scrutiny of people across the stands. "We understand the need for action, but won't act until the situation's fully clear. We've never seen an enemy like this before."

Sparatus snorted indignantly, and managed to avoid smearing venom across his following words just barely; "You're merely afraid, Dalatrass. The Union prefer to win the war before they fight. We face an uncertain future with an enemy this strong. But if you're not willing to commit your forces, you'll eventually find yourselves fighting alone."

Dalatrass looked ready to protest, until another voice cut in like a razor blade. "Then maybe it's time to consider looking for allies that might be willing to actually fight."

The councilors and people across the assembly looked up and to where the familiar voice of the first human spectre came from as he arrived in the back where the spectator stands are located.

"And who do you suggest we ask, Shepard?" Udina inquired with an almost uncharacteristic desperation to his tone.

"You could start by reaching out to the races of the Terminus systems, and the Krogan, Quarians, Geth, and the Rachni."

Tevos looked to the sides as the diplomats all over the place murmured at the perceived madness of what the commander just said. Especially the latter option. "Shepard, I would prefer you watch what you're saying."

"Geth, are you quite mad?" an asari diplomat spoke up in outrage. Many shook their heads at the mentioning of the Rachni.

"Not all of them worship the reapers. Me and my crew worked alongside one who guarantees that the majority of the geth would rather want to see the reapers destroyed."

Murmurs buzzed through the area again. Mostly naysayers, only a few protesting against the negativity. "Alliance with the two of them are unlikely though. And the krogan?" Sparatus responded with some exasperation, "And regarding the quarians. The migrant fleet's been suspiciously absent lately. They've vanished off the charts."

"The reapers probably destroyed them.." a volus diplomat muttered. It was hard to tell if he was happy about this possibility or not.

"I wouldn't mind their help though. They got the largest fleet in the galaxy." a human diplomat followed up, "They could be even more useful to this war than the Nortraship was back during world war two on our planet over two centuries ago."

"Why bother with them?" the volus shot back, "They're nothing but thieves and beggars.."

Tevos gazed up at Shepard, and saw clearly the look of sheer disgust at what the volus just said in blatant prejudice. "They're an honest and hard-working people, I'll have you know." he growled, "You think such an attitude will defeat the reapers? Only the reapers will benefit from such petty hatred. We're all in this together, and it's together or die."

The volus muttered something incoherent as he looked at his nearby elcor colleague for assistance, but who instead shook its big head in slight apprehension. But elsewhere, an elcor diplomat spoke up; "Reluctant, spoken well. But it's never as easy as just that." its deep and brass voice carrying across the assembly while tapping a display with a huge finger; "With great sadness, Dekuuna recently started coming under attack by reaper forces. And the same goes for many other client species. With a situation such as this deteriorating at a staggering rate, how do you propose we fight this?"

Murmurs intensified as the diplomat finished, more than a few eyes looking to the human commander with a certain amount of expectations.

Shepard seemed to be temporarily at a loss. Indeed, it's an extremely difficult question to answer. He doubled back with an effort to hammer in some confidence; "We need to start somewhere. First we need to take off some of the pressure in the most heavily besieged areas, and work it out from there."

"I believe Earth should be considered first.." Udina spoke up, and that did not help much.

"Palaven should be the priority, Udina..." Sparatus protested, "The sooner the reapers are repelled from our home world, the sooner we'll be able to use our considerable military assets to assist the rest of the galaxy."

The human councilor wasn't pleased by this, despite the logic invested into it.

"Then the salarian and asari fleets should start pulling their weight." a human diplomat among the assembly spoke up. "People are getting massacred across the galaxy, yet your fleets are standing idle."

Sparatus looked to his salarian and asari colleague in slight disappointment, but said nothing that would have inevitably riled up the crowd.

Tevos and Valern squirmed. Powerless as long as their respective governments continue to hold back. "I know there's been some misgivings about the lack of action. But this war requires some... changes in the way we do things. Conventional warfare isn't my people's strong suit, and the same holds true for the salarians."

An volus raised his hand, "You lack flexibility, and now we'll all suffer for your lack of foresight!"

Nearby salarians stood up and responded in kind alongside the more aggressive ones among the asari diplomats. More joined in gradually, and soon the whole assembly was on the brink of fighting among themselves even as the turian and human councilors tried to shout for order. The expression of many showcased their growing panic.

On the far side, Shepard eased himself against a chair and rested his forehead against his hands while exchanging a few exasperated words with Mei while watching the ensuing chaos as it drowned out the far-between voices of reason.

* * *

"Is this a joke!" Javik finally cried out with a mix of anger and frustration as he finally stepped out of the shadows from where he had been observing the event, glowering at the politicians below with great disappointment. He did not stop walking until he nearly stood at the very edge of the central podium. Silence abruptly brought upon the chamber at the stranger's sudden appearance. "Is this the major power of this cycle? A bunch of primitives arguing with one another like children while the reapers rampage through the stars, burning all in their path?"

"And who are you exactly?" Sparatus called out with a steely tone at the interruption. Managing to hide his surprise even as every head in view craned their necks to regard Javik, who unflinchingly gazed back at them.

At that, Ino left the stands behind.. whispering a few words to Mei before joining the prothean on the podium. "Me and my team found him by a coincidence on Eden Prime as Cerberus attempted to rob him away from a dig site while he was still locked up in his stasis pod."

Javik glanced at her, and gave a barely noticeable nod. For some reason, her presence – and the look of raw comfort in her expression, was almost... comforting.

"Eden Prime? Cerberus? Dig site? Stasis pod?" Tevos asked, placing a powerful emphasis on every word as she connected the dots even as she moved on to repeat her colleague's question; "Who are you?"

"I am Javik." he said with dangerous calm. Pausing his introduction to look over the hundreds of people gathered here, "I am the last Prothean."

Gasps of realization nearly echoed around the chambers, and even more from disbelief. All of the hanar lit up like a Christmas tree, and yet failing to utter a single word. Completely frozen into place.

"A-a prothean?" Udina stuttered in response, having failed to realize in time.

"I am." he responded chillingly.

"B-but.." an asari finally rediscovered her ability to speak; "If you lost the war against the reapers, then what hope to we have?" a worried murmur spreading like a wildfire at that.

"You still got the Citadel, asari." Javik retaliated immediately, "You still got the mass relays to use, you still have the ability to summon and concentrate your strength from even the furthest reaches of the galaxy! We had neither, yet still we fought for centuries!"

The diplomat opened her mouth to respond when the projectors suddenly came online across the chamber. And despite the attempted intervention of numerous technicians, refused to be turned off. The devices swiveled invisibly to focus on a single spot in the empty space above the assembly.

Javik blinked when a spark of translucent lightning appeared out of thin air, cracked like a whip, and turned itself into a holographic screen. "What's happening?" Ino asked, never having seen a hologram before. But the prothean himself was silent as he watched the image that struggled to establish itself for a split second.

"Who the hell turned on the projectors?" Udina shouted, slamming a fist against the control panel in front of him. "This is-"

But then music started up, echoing through the chambers. The screen completely black until two separate stripes formed in the bottom and top of the image, showing the start of an ANN newscast. The image of a smiling Diana Allers appearing shortly, sitting on a chair and facing the audience with a bright formal smile like nothing's wrong. "Welcome to this Alliance News Networks special broadcast, I am War correspondent Diana Allers reporting from the SSV Normandy."

Shepard stood up from his seat with a jerk, sporting an expression akin to shock.

"Recent discoveries have found a small glitter of light amidst the disaster that continues to develop within the besieged Sol system." Diana continued, "A battle recently took place within the dome city of Huygens dome on Titan between a number of kalinin affiliated with Commander Shepard, and invading reaper forces." and then gestured to the sides, "With me today are the pilot of the SSV Normandy; Jeff Moreau." who waved to the camera in turn from his seat to the left. "And one of the kalinin who participated in said battle; Hinata Hyuga." the girl on the right seat smiling sheepishly, mimicking Joker's gesture.

Both of them appeared to be nervous, and dealt with it in each their way. Javik looked to the girl, who's pale eyes stood out. The orbs seemed damaged to him, but her mannerism and the way she regarded the camera and the two next to her told him plainly that's not the case.

"Some viewers might recall you from the news back when you and the boy who was with you rampaged through the Citadel." Diana told the girl, with an unspoken question. Basically for her to say something about it.

"Umm.." the girl hesitated, "We're sorry for what happened. My mate tried to protect me during an ordeal, and was overcome by rage in the process. None of us wanted that to happen." no words was directed at the mistreatment she received at the hands of C-Sec.

"I see." the woman replied in kind, "And in Huygens dome, you fought once again. This time against the reapers."

"I-It was a nasty business. Many dead, Naruto couldn't stand the thought of not helping and moved in to fight. I joined in alongside our Sensei... er, I mean teacher. While we were at it, Shepard and the others fought to open up a path for survivors. Our efforts ensured that thousands survived to escape. The rescued people were brought to an undisclosed location, where they'll be kept safe."

Unknowingly to Javik and those unaware of the details, of which there are truly many; questions about the previous battle at Palaven were specifically designated a no-go. Especially considering the existence of the Ten-tails, now basically one of the reapers' trump cards. A genuine Super-Dreadnought, though a more well-suited name for a ship of its class would be; Juggernaut. Fortunately, it hasn't been observed on any battlefield so far. The reapers are either using it in areas with complete communications blackout, or keeping it in reserve.

Further back, among the seats; Naruto did not forward to breaking that particular piece of news to the prothean.

"What sort of opposition did you face?" Diana asked the girl.

"There were many husks there. Primarily of the type that used to be Humans, Batarians and Turians. The reapers even somehow created a husk that uses parts of both turian and krogan bodies. Combining them into an abomination. The unit that commanded those forces at Huygens dome was a reaper. A destroyer specifically."

Diana did not need to voice her disgust, it was evident on her face. She maintained her work-face and moved on; "I can imagine it was a difficult battle."

The girl lowered her eyes, "Y-yes. It was. But we managed to pull through thanks to good team work."

"And a whole lot of raw power." Joker, barely keeping himself from throwing both his thumbs into the air. "You guys made it look easy."

Javik did not know what to think. To him, it was like they're joking around. About a battle with reapers no less. '_pull through_' and '_look easy_' indicated that they won the battle. But as far as the girl described, only she and two others faced the reaper forces. How could they have won against_ such _odds?

"Of course, it does sound like a fabricated story." Diana's words probably echoed the thoughts of many watching this broadcast.

"But that's where I come in." Joker replied, leaning slightly to the side, "During it all, I managed to record much of the battle via the cameras around the area. Mostly surveillance and security, but enough to make use of."

"Then I'll let the audience be the judge. Here, shown for the first time and _only_ on ANN; the exclusive battle footage from the Huygens dome:"

The image of the three shrank to but one tenth of its original size, and relocated itself to he top-left corner of the screen as the ordinary warning labels associated with such footage scrolled into view. Violence, bad language, improper behavior, death, genocide, and jaywalking.

Mumbling could be heard buzzing through the crowd as a street came into view, a site of great carnage. With wrecked vehicles thrown about everywhere. Organic bodies blurred out showed that the footage's been under the knife. But it wasn't needed, most people were far too busy staring at the hundreds of grotesque husks lumbering about in a coordinated manner. In this shot, mostly former-batarians. The noise of a battlefield blasting through the chambers. A heavy gunfight could be heard happening just around the corner, and was ended with a sudden explosion as Hinata and Naruto made their appearance, surrounded by a strange aura of blood-red energy that made them look more like demons than organic beings. More than a few shrank away from the screen upon recognizing said energy.

The recording was slowed down for the audience's convenience as the teens accelerated to a monstrous degree – charging in even as all the husks in view opened fire as if they were fighting an army of thousands. The two went in and kept themselves low even as bullets passed over them so slowly that the audience could see the 'waves' of displaced air.

The boy first arrived close to one of the husks, and whipped a curled fist at it. A fist of meat and bones met with metal, and at the first second merely crumpled the surface. But then it blew clean through the husk like it was made of water. Fragments of metal and sparks were sent flying in all directions as Naruto utterly obliterated his immediate enemy – and moved on to the next.

Javik took a barely noticeable step back at the sight, temporarily dumbfounded by the feat. The fist of an organic couldn't possibly accomplish such a feat. He thought the boy was only going to get a bruised knuckle for even trying to punch a synthetic. It's either fake, or there's something much more to it than he realized.

The footage sped up a little bit, and showed as the two tore through their opposition like a fusion-cutter through butter. Not simply punch and punch and punch. But that and slashes, kicks, palm-thrusts and a variety of other attacks, while performing various maneuvers as they charged through the street. It hadn't even gone a minute before roughly half the present opposition had been torn down.

It looked almost as if they were dancing, rather than fighting. Subsequent scenes displayed similar situations where the kalinin slaughtered their way through the enemy. With similar results, but sometimes with various tactics used by both sides.

Initially, Javik thought they all came from various engagements. But according to the time shown on the top-right corner. They all happened during one single engagement, as unbelievably as it may sound. _How obscenely fast_.

He regarded those around him. Ino looked up at the shown action in wonder, but did not seem all that surprised. Neither did Shepard and the others. Most of the rest were completely baffled, staring in complete silence with bated breaths.

"Made it look easy?" he rolled Joker's words around. It looked incredible, if not miraculous. He couldn't quite believe his own eyes.

Ino let her shoulders sag slightly, "They've grown so incredibly strong since last I saw them." sounding a little bit envious.

"This type of strength common with your people?" the prothean asked as the carnage continued on-screen.

"No. Only a few manage to get that far. I was one the ones with the best grades at the academy in my generation... while Naruto was the dead-last on every subject. And yet he's gotten so much further." she shrugged, "Life's not fair."

"It never is."

The image eventually shifted and split up to view the massive destroyer from multiple angles as the teens assailed it directly, followed closely by something called 'Kamui' that severed a leg like it's nothing.

People across the galaxy could do little but stare, Javik imagined. This... was unprecedented. He could just barely make out the strange distortion exactly where the leg was 'cut'.

Once again, Diana showed how well she knew the audience by asking the most pressing question; "Could you perhaps illuminate us about what just transpired, Hinata?"

"Kamui." the girl replied promptly. "It's difficult to translate it directly. It means something like; The Authority of the Gods. It's a space-time Ninjutsu Kakashi can deploy through the use of his mangekyo sharingan." one of the small images changed accordingly to focus on the far-away man's face as he dropped from the building upon the reaper's retaliation, outrunning the beam just barely. Showing his bizarre eye for a fleeting moment. "Basically the technique causes a barrier space to surround the target focused on, and then ejects the target into another dimension. In this case, a slice of the reaper's leg merely a few inches wide." neither mentioning its limitation. Can only be used three times a day. Nor the fact that there exists no defense against it, or as far as she and the others know.

Then he was shown using it again to damage the reaper's beam cannon. Causing it to be destroyed by a backlash of energy upon failing to focus it properly when it attempted another shot.

With mobility-issues and its primary weapon destroyed, the teens charged and tore their way into and through the reaper until they violently detached and threw out the ship's very own core into the streets outside. Leaving the audience in shock. Just like that, they killed a reaper. On foot. With unbelievable powers, but still..

Sparatus opened and closed his mouth without a word. Udina stood slack-jawed. Tevos and Velarn shrank away from the image, with the realization that the user of 'Kamui' is up there, sitting next to Mei. With a sort of dreaming look to his lone visible eye. While Naruto – another participant – grinned like an idiot.

The footage ended with that, and once again the three came back into focus. With smiles of clear satisfaction. "And so we're approaching the end of this special broadcast. Jeff, is there anything you'd like to add." the woman turned to the pilot.

Joker leaned a little forward, resting elbows against his legs. His grin fading slightly, "I know that the kalinin's stronger than your average species. And I'm not even remotely as good as Shepard when it comes to speeches, but the point of this: The reason I pieced this together, was to show that the reapers _can_ be defeated. They're _not_ invincible." though his original reasons in truth were more kiddish. "I'm not saying it'll be a walk in the park. But it's not hopeless. Shepard and what allies he could gather fought against the reapers since long before the galaxy at large even acknowledged their existence." not mentioning the period during which Shepard was dead, "And we've thrown more than a few monkey wrenches through their plans. Even delayed their invasion a couple of times, with a little help of course from those who came before us all; the protheans. A few of them gave their lives so that we might stand a chance. Are we going to let their sacrifice go to waste? No, I don't think so. So what do you say? Shall we put down the useless bickering and get to work winning this war? I for one, am all for it."

Javik almost asked, _"More of my people survived?"_ breathlessly. Hoping for that to be true. But since the 'Jeff' fellow referred to a sacrifice, then his hope was for nothing. But whatever they did, it must have something to do with the Citadel still being in the hands of the organic species' despite the ongoing invasion. The questions just kept piling up.

"Well said." Kabuto said as he stood up from his seat, finally about to take part in this debate, applauding the newscast's contents even as Diana came with the closing message. The applause strangely contagious as several others joined in, encouraged by what they've just seen. He kept at it until most of those present clapped their hands before finally stopping, to adjust his glasses. "The powers of my kind are great, but it won't be out of your reach for long. Allow me to show you the results of my organization's diligent work, all dedicated to bring about the end of the reapers!" his soft yet booming voice echoing through the hall, displaying a particularly wide smile as he raised an arm and snapped his fingers. The hologram above, having finished, vanished to display another black image adorned with the crest of the Oroc Corporation, "Behold the tools of victory. Keyword: Victory!"

* * *

Author notes: It took much longer to write this than I thought it would. It was quite a tricky chapter. Sorry about the wait.

And sorry about the cliffhanger at the end. But as one would, he's going to milk the situation for all it's worth. Or as much as he can get away with. Once wondered quite a lot why I favor Kabuto so much over Madara, but then I came to the conclusion that it's because Kabuto's so similar to Medusa Gorgon from Soul Eater, who was my favorite character from that specific manga. They got_ so_ much in common, I get almost giddy from thinking about it.

But, the masked guy will get his moments too.


	48. Chapter 48

**Chapter 48**

* * *

Having said that, the logo hanging above the crowd faded away with immediate effect. The hologram changing from the resulting black image, and into footage. And people started murmuring almost instantly as they recognized what's being shown; Which had already been used earlier when the Council revealed to galactic community; the existence of the OCA. Oroc Corporation's Chakra armor. Public response was astoundingly massive. The number of people enlisting into the military of a few species rose sharply. Though that's mostly a trend until the reapers came out of the woodworks.

"Recognize this? Most of you certainly do.." Kabuto began, leaving his chair to walk down along the curved stairs running down and across the length of the coliseum-like tiers where the diplomats, ambassadors and various assistants stood or sat. Elating quietly as all the attention in the Citadel chambers were directed at him, and had to strain himself to maintain that humble smile he sported. To avoid defiling it with the smugness he felt rising on the inside. Making a grand gesture towards the hologram above as it showed a mock battle between teams of asari, salarians, turians and humans exclusively using their OCA. It was magnificent to behold, even though most had already seen it before.

One particular turian had lightning dance in his palms before he struck them together and sent a lightning bolt zigzagging through the air. A salarian countered it by striking the ground, making it dishevel and quickly push up a wall, which took and resisted the lightning blast.

The techniques were relatively simple and crude. But impressive to the gathered aliens. It was a real pain and effort to allow the armor to deploy elemental techniques. But the amount of things they could do was rather limited by the amount of data it can contain.

"I won't bore you with the details. The initial batch has been fully trained, and in the process of increasing the number of OCA adepts. And we are providing supplies as is appropriate. It's all moving along like clockwork." he paused for effect, "For obvious reasons the location of our facilities will remain a secret."

He continued to move through the assembly, looking from alien to alien.. "But what I wished to show you this time... is this. Despite the strength of the Council races, this war will require... changes to how things are done. Which means that the other races should follow suit and provide auxiliaries. Any help can help turn the tide, but not without an ace in the hole – of course." he snapped his fingers, causing the image above once again to change.

It showed another mock battle. Though mostly just a set of aliens on one side and mechs functioning as moving targets for them. Not as impressive as the former, unless one considered the aliens in question being a mix of Elcor, Hanar and Volus. All wearing armor. Though the latter ones wore thicker armor to compensate for their physical frailty. Along with mechanism akin to powered exoskeletons so they may be able to heft all the added weight, and whatever equipment they may end up carrying.

Many appeared rather amused by the sight. And truthfully, it did look kind of comical. Until one of the volus crushed a mech by causing walls to rise up from the ground on either side of it, and then slammed them together. It immediately stopped being amusing, replaced instead by shows of awe. "This is a little project of mine. There will doubtless be auxiliaries, so I went out of my way to create armor specifically for use by other species of the Citadel. Impressive, is it not?"

On screen, the mechs were now being systematically exterminated by the empowered aliens. The elcor moving much faster with the use of OCA than they could possibly do on their own. Machines crumpling to the ground one after another as the alien brought them down, combining the newly gained agility with its own innate strength.

Effortlessly, Kabuto continued; "These new variants will be built in rather small numbers compared to those for the council species." and then raised his voice, "But _any_ contributions could end up making _all_ the difference in this war!"

This caused much of the audience to initiate a strong applause. But Kabuto did not wait for it to end, and stunned the audience as he clapped his hands together once. "But!" he called out with his glasses gleaming as light was reflected from its surface.. ".. There's more."

The clap of his hand resulted in the ending of the footage above, and replaced it with another that showed something resembling a mix between a beetle and a seashell, resting peacefully in the depths of space, with a backdrop filled with stars. It quickly became apparent that there's no nearby star. Meaning this was placed in an incredibly remote location to prevent it from being found by others. And now, especially the reapers.

Kabuto quickly gauged the various reactions, but squinted at the sight of Naruto clutching his chest, as if pained by something. One theory coming to mind was the possibility of the sealed maker inside the boy stirring in reaction to the picture. After all, what's being shown is a Maker shipyard. But that was little compared to what's to come as the image zoomed in. The shipyard itself was gigantic, which quickly became apparent as the camera got close enough to make out the hundreds of cocoon-like shapes orbiting the facility in various stages of development.

"Most people believe the protheans were the only spacefaring species fifty thousand years ago. But that is completely false. There were more, though the most relevant one right now; being the ones that called themselves; the Makers. They suffered the same fate as the protheans, but also left some of their technology behind. Which we are putting to good use." he made a sweeping gesture at the creature shown. What you're seeing is a Maker shipyard, which we now refer to as Station One. As you see, their technology's very different from what your grand civilizations use."

Most initially appeared disgusted or horrified by the clearly organic construct. The council stood relatively unfazed. Apparently, the whole plan was to reveal as much as possible without giving certain details away.

"See the growths surrounding the construct?" the assembly looked as though they had been electrified as he pulled their attention to said growths, "Every one of them is a warship in the making. And these!" he raised the volume of his voice again, startling his audience again. The position of the camera shifting away from the shipyard, and to a coherent gathering of oddly shaped ships arranged into a dozen line formations.

"What you see now are the products finished so far. That is, they're very nearly finished. All that remains is one single component for each which are in the process of delivering as we speak. This nascent fleet of unmanned spacecraft will be included into the Citadel fleet to assist in this war!"

An unseen diplomat spoke up from within the crowd, "But the purpose of the fleet is to safeguard Citadel space, where will these ships be deployed to?"

Sparatus brought the answer to that question with a strong reasoning voice, "We're in the process of considering all available options. But with the current state of things, the fleet will be used to assist in the defense of Palaven."

"Which I'm obliged to say; is wise." Kabuto gave the councilor a nod of approval before he readdressed the ambassadors. "Any questions so far?"

* * *

"This is just..." Mei sneered. Whether she liked it or not, Kabuto was playing his part well, appearing before the highest political powers of Citadel space as a force of benevolence and good. "At this rate.. he'll be untouchable."

"He already is, I believe." Kakashi also sounded annoyed, but was much more mild and self-controlled about it as he observed the political circus. Glitter-eyed aliens asking their questions, and getting sugar-coated answers in return. This is just one of the worse types of villains... one with good publicity. "Soon enough, they'll be eating right out of his hand..."

"Naruto... you all right?" they heard Shikamaru ask as the other boy breathed unevenly, clutching his chest even harder.

Kakashi walked around and crouched down in front of the apparently pained boy, "What's wrong?"

"Kh... feels like something's trying to burst through my ribs." Naruto nearly croaked, his voice rather coarse. "The pain started right when that 's-shipyard' was shown. T-think it's the maker inside me. It's trying to call out."

The Jonin looked to him sympathetically, "Can you stand up?"

"Think so..."

"Then let's leave, and see if the pain stops." Kakashi looked to Mei for approval.

"You can go." she replied, "Take him back to the ship if it doesn't help."

They quickly got up and left, leaving her and the others to continue observing the spectacle. _Representative, my ass_... she thought with a frown as she absently counted the number of ships displayed on the hologram. Sixty-three ships. Separated into two different classes. Most of them looking like cruisers, while the rest resembled dreadnoughts. The lack of a familiar ship on screen made accuracy as to their classifications nearly impossible. And the bizarre shapes did little to help things along.

Down below, Kabuto finished answering the few questions he received and clapped his hands together. Causing the hologram to go blank once again, with the corporation logo rising back to prominence. The audience, very pleased with the presentation once again started applauding the bastard. The sound of clapping hands filling the air to the brim.

* * *

Kabuto reveled in the applause. Letting it go on and on. All the more gleeful was the thought of how frustrating this sight might be to Nagato's faction. The asari councilor was about to speak up, to call back to order when he raised a hand insistingly, "However!" he managed to deaden the applause nearly instantly.

This time, even the councilors blinked at him.

"But even with the greatest fleets, and greatest armies. Overwhelming numbers alone is simply not enough!" he spoke out to his audience, shaking his head while doing so to show his mild disdain over such old-fashioned thinking. "What we need is the capability to project power against our enemies! The kind that can only be brought to bear by one single weapon of unrivaled potential."

He spoke so fiercely, with so much applied force that his rhetoric nearly blew his audience away. Like a stack of paper naked before a hurricane.

"With barely retrained curiosity; Does such a weapon exist?" an elcor diplomat asked.

This time, Kabuto truly grinned as he raised an arm to the hologram above, which changed one last time. "Behold; my ultimate creation!"

But the sight of this creation proved quite... underwhelming. For instead of the massive titan of a ship they all expected, instead; all they could see was a vertically oriented needle-shaped object at least four kilometers tall. Its surface appearing completely featureless at first and second glance. Udina raised an eyebrow so high it almost tried to detach itself from its ridge.

But the man seemed completely undaunted by this tame response. "I know what you're thinking. And rightly so. Right now, it barely got the firepower of a conventional cruiser from any of your species. But... mind you that this ship's still in its infancy. It will become more powerful as it gathers resources through the battles to come."

"What kind of resources?" Tevos asked.

The shinobi actually grinned this time, "Reapers. This ship was grown through the use of Maker technology. But this is a special design, created to integrate reaper technology into itself. It strengthens as the amount of power it can access increase. Stronger armor, improved weaponry, better regeneration-capability."

"If that's the case, why not use some of our ships to get things going?" a random diplomat spoke up.

"That, is not an option.." Udina barked, and the diplomat vanished into the crowd, reddening in embarrassment. "We need all the ships we can get." Sparatus gave him a rare nod for showing such decent wartime reasoning.

"Quite so, you're completely correct." Kabuto said, "Despite popular opinion, already there are numerous wrecks of reapers scattered throughout the galaxy. Mostly destroyers, but those will do for now. It's all to produce the Citadel fleet's very first Juggernaut." For various reasons, he chose not to bring up the connection between the makers and his species. And made particularly sure not to mention the Jubi at all.. nor that this Juggernaut would essentially become its mirror image in a manner of speaking. In contrast to the Ten-tails, which essentially is a reaper ship with integrated maker tech.. This one once complete will be a maker ship with integrated reaper tech.

Once again, he received applause from the audience. And he graciously bowed in return, earning even more of it. With the footage finished, the hologram finally vanished as the projectors shut down. By now, he was standing roughly between the Council's podium (though more correctly below it), and the rest. "That's it for the presentation. I came here today to bring hope, and it's all up to you if it's been successful. With the armor, show the reapers that you won't make this war easy on them!" the applause intensifying as he continued; "With this fleet, show them that we will be much more than an annoyance! And with this Juggernaut, we will _all_ show them that we _can –_ and we _will –_ destroy them!"

It was almost as if the Citadel tower trembled as the chambers within very nearly exploded with the sound of clapping hands.

And even as it was ongoing, Kabuto started walking to the back. Even engaging in shaking hands with a few who reached their hands out to him as he passed them, even the usually sullen Din Korlack. Tayuya eventually joining him as he marched past their seats. Politely excusing himself from the rest of the meeting as his part was finished. Having taken enough of their time.

By the time the two had crossed much of the area between themselves and the elevator, the sound had finally died down, allowing the assembly to move on to the next topic at hand before finishing for today. A lot more lighthearted than before.

* * *

Javik did not know what to think. Ino and the rest seemed deeply hostile to the preacher below.. despite his contributions. Most of aliens in the room having apparently forgotten the prothean even being here. No wonder, with such an enthralling speech, "What is the history with this man?" he asked the blonde.

She pressed her lips together as she mentally worked on an answer before providing it, "I don't know him personally. But he's a criminal.. and have done many horrible things. But it's strange... I did not think he would look so..."

"So...?" he repeated and blinked, one eye after another.

Ino shook her head, "It's still him. But his appearance has changed significantly from when I first saw him years ago." then lowered her voice to nearly a hush in distaste, "Did he experiment on his own body...?"

"Where there's a genius, there's also a madman."

The girl raised an eyebrow at that, "One of your people's proverbs?"

Javik performed a slight nod, with a faintest sign of a grin. As if amused.

"Now don't you get any ideas about joining him.." Mei spoke almost warningly as she approached the two. "He's crossed the line too many times."

"If the act of doing so could destroy the reapers, I would gladly cross a thousand lines without hesitation."

"And what if that happen..." the mizukage brought up hypothetically, "...only to see something potentially worse replacing them?"

"We'll cross_ that_ particular line once we get there." he shrugged.

"So what will you do right now?"

"Stay with you." he responded in the positive, "Unlike he, you will be fighting on the front line. And that's where I belong."

Mei nodded approvingly, "Good to hear.."

"Indubitably."

Shepard eventually stood up from his deeply contemplative state, his omni-tool active. "Come, we're leaving."

"And go where..." Mei asked, placing her hands firmly against her hips. "... back to our ships?"

"Just got a message from Udina. The council will see us at his office once this is over."

The woman seemed bewildered by that, though far from displeased... "What... really? A private meeting?"

"Yes. This might just be our best chance..."

The others were quite pleased to hear that. Ino quickly pacing over to Shikamaru, who hadn't left his seat yet.. "You hear that, Shika..." and then suddenly in a reaction of pure irritation slapped the boy across the head once she heard a lazy snore escape his lips, "Hey, wake up you idiot! How the hell did you fall asleep here of all places?"

"...Shut up.." the Nara groaned as his cheeks quickly became slightly swollen from the sudden assault, "Crazy women.. Such a drag."

"I honestly can't believe you...!" she continued to berate him, leaving the others to watch quietly until Javik finally – and quietly – remarked at the sight:

"Some things... never change."

* * *

Now with the meeting out of the way, only one small business remained before he and his guard would return to Tireth. Kabuto stood as still as a statue in the middle of the hangar, just a rock throw away from the airlock leading to his ship as he patiently waited for a certain someone.

Thankfully it did not last long before an elegantly armored asari made her appearance at the far end of the area.

"What an honor, to see you of all people making the delivery." Kabuto greeted the newcomer with a grin.

"I got business of my own here, and this is too sensitive to entrust other agents with. Cerberus is everywhere." the other countered as she handed over a data-pad, which he promptly accepted, "Nice speech by the way."

He nearly croaked a cough as he browsed through the information the device contained, "It better be. Won't do another one for a while if I can avoid it.." he paused momentarily, "You've found three reaper corpses already? Good, good. The payment will be transferred to your account momentarily.." he gave Tayuya a nod, who brought up her omni-tool to arrange it. "What did you say about Cerberus? They're not that big if I recall correctly."

"I heard you gave the council enough info to rip those terrorists to pieces."

"Impressive information network you got." he snickered, "Yes, that's correct. Have they gotten back on their feet?"

"Their numbers have swelled in recent times. Don't ask me how.. The Illusive man's still alive, and he's running a much more aggressive line now than before."

"More aggressive, or simply desperate." he eased the data pad into his robe with a thought, "Anyway, good job. I trust you'll continue the good work finding more wrecks for us to make use of."

"With every eye I can spare."

"Good." Kabuto turned to enter his ship, Tayuya following suit.. "Always a pleasure, shadow broker; lady T'soni."

* * *

"No change in their position?"

The mission was so simple. Take a few freighters, go to the home world, fetch what remains of the Zetsu army, and then return. The problem came about the moment they started heading back to the cluster's main relay. It began with the discovery of a deep-space scout that fled the moment it found them.

And now, everything had gone to hell in a handbasket. The moment they arrived in the system containing the relay, they found it playing as a humble host to a fleet of reapers... and geth. Stories had circulated throughout the Terminus systems that there's something happening in the Perseus veil. Causing the geth to flock into it like a crazed swarm. And no one was in any way eager to get in their way.

Madara cursed as he looked over the crew surrounding him. Each with a seeker bug implanted into their neck to ensure their slavish obedience. For the moment, they were busy navigating the ship through this hazardous course. In a system populated by one reaper dreadnought, several destroyer escorts and more than a dozen geth ships; including a dreadnought.

The situation had seriously gotten annoying. What modest escort they once had were quickly destroyed along with two of their freighters. Leaving only six remaining. They only evaded the enemy by practically diving into the depths of the local asteroid field. Right now surrounded by three thousand kilometers worth of asteroids of all sizes. It took the crew all of their concentration to avoid crashing into the mountain-sized rocks surrounding them on nearly every side. The ships' mass effect fields struggling to keep smaller objects from smashing into their hulls.

And here they've been for the last three hours, and no change in enemy formation. Most likely waiting for the convoy to resurface.

Occasionally, scanners would pick up the 'tremors' of asteroids being blown to bits, sending pieces of debris in every direction like the shrapnel of fragmentation grenades.

"Trying to fish for us, you bastards?" Madara growled angrily.."Won't take that pathetic bait no matter what you do." watching the feed he received from a smattering of drones the freighters left behind to keep an eye on the enemy fleet. The reapers already having blown up most of them. Only a few covert ones remained, but they too would be picked off eventually.

With cautious contemplation, he studied the images received. Both fleets are keeping their distance, especially the reapers.. as if out of scorn. The geth being closer to the asteroid belt, to do the dirty work, and act as shields if anything happens. The latter faction being nothing but sacrificial tools to the reapers. Not that he found anything to object against, he would have done the exact same thing.

Madara did not even wince as one of the feeds fizzled out. Yet another drone taken down. Thinking back on what few recent reports he could access regarding the geth, submitted by Shepard; the one describing a heretic faction that see the reapers as gods.

So basically it's a horrible master/servant relationship. Maybe... just maybe, he could use that to his advantage? Destroying the fleet right now, is impossible, but there is one other way to go about it. "Zetsu, you got the seat until I get back." he messaged his subordinate over at the ship immediately behind his.

The response came quick; "What do you plan to do?"

Madara chuckled darkly as he got up to leave, "Just going out for a walk, mix things up a little."

* * *

**Author notes**: Shorter chapter this chapter, but it'll do.

Oh, and just to note: Liara knows very little about Kabuto's past, so she sees him as little more than a benefactor. As for questions needing answering:

sakurablossoms84: Skipped a letter when I wrote the name down, which is why there's no results. It's Nortraship. It administered Norway's contribution to the war; its merchant fleet of 1000 ships.


	49. Chapter 49

**Chapter 49**

* * *

It's a plan. Crazy, thoroughly so. But a plan nonetheless. Better than doing nothing, as it goes.

Madara went down to the freighter's rather modest armory, and had soon equipped himself with a suit much like the OCA, except this one conceal Chakra emissions. Making it one of the very few effective means for kalinin to move around without being detected. Or at the very least make the user more difficult to find, in a galaxy filled with sensors, to which they're like walking signal flares. It was essential, or this plan would be far beyond the impossible to accomplish. It in great part _dependent_ on using the enemy's poor relationship against them.

It's a truly daunting distances he needed to travel here. Once he finished donning the armor, and inserted the chakra battery, he warped himself away from the freighter.

The Uchiha reentered the world on the surface of a craggy asteroid on the very periphery of the asteroid belt, looking over the distant Geth fleet – with the titanic wasp-shaped dreadnought in the middle of it – as he contemplated his next course of action. Watching as the dreadnought opened fire and obliterated yet another asteroid close to the convoy the minute it slipped away once again, followed by another projectile that passed into the belt without causing much damage at all. Either it struck something further inside, or managed to travel all the way through and exit on the far side. Not as implausible as it may sound, some of the asteroids in the belt are either too small to slow the projectile or lacking in mass.

"Those shots..." he quietly muttered to himself, "... are probably _my_ best shot to make this work." the first phase involved trying to snatch the projectiles away while they're in flight. Doing it right at the barrel would look immeasurably more suspicious than doing the same to those vanishing in the depths of the belt. The only question was, were those fired randomly.. or is there some plan involved?

Madara banished that thought immediately, deeming it naught but a pointless exercise.

The man remained there until the next shot fired. Hurling a thirty-kilogram slug into the belt at 1.2% the speed of light. It was awe-inspiring to think about, that this concept originated from cavemen throwing rocks... gradually expanding upon until it turned into a weapon of mass destruction such as the one before him.

He watched the slug vanish into the belt, and quickly decided to pursue it.. warping away with his 'Space-Time migration technique' and reappearing more than two thousand kilometers further in. He did this another couple of times, observing the projectile's trajectory until he finally landed himself directly in its path, and applied the same technique to open a portal leading his own pocket dimension, completely emptied into the state of a vacuum – and expanded it until larger than himself, to ensure the kinetic energy in the projectile's wake won't rip him to pieces in the process.

The wait was short and excruciating, until the projectile finally arrived and rushed right into the portal. Followed quickly by a pause until he chose to end the technique. The remaining kinetic energy had by then traveled harmlessly past the boundaries of the portal and knocked aside several nearby asteroids. That done, he felt a sudden pain and sank to his knees.. panting already from exertion. He had so far, in quick succession transported himself across a distance of nearly ten thousand kilometers with a heavy focus on accuracy in order to catch a projectile that could very easily ruin a city's day if it had been directed towards a planet. Already, a huge amount of chakra had been spent. Even the battery was quite drained now.

And he needed at least three more to set up a 'convincing argument' for the next stage of the plan.

But it was a good start, so for the time being; he decided to retire to the freighter and get some rest.

* * *

Over at the Citadel embassy, the wait for a private meeting with the council was mercifully short. As soon as they arrived, the group was ushered into Udina's office.. except Kakashi and Naruto was left outside to guard the door... alongside about twenty officers from C-Sec who eyed them warily. Few had forgotten about what happened the last time the kalinin paid the Citadel a big visit.

They could hear some of the words exchanged in the office until the word was given to Javik, who spoke at length without interruptions. Or at least as long as questions weren't asked. At least for now, the meeting revolved around an extensive Q&A with the prothean handled by the council, and Shepard. Mei, Ino and Shikamaru seemed to be listening more than intervening.

"Feeling well?" Kakashi asked, perhaps for the tenth time this last hour alone.

"I'm fine.." the boy grunted irritably, rubbing a hand across his chest like he had been stung.

The older shinobi did not bother to pry. Naruto can sometimes be stubborn to a fault after all. But he gleamed enough information in that brief response and gesture; the boy's recovering, but not as quickly as hoped. To Kakashi, the whole thing involving the sealed maker wasn't all that different from the case of the Nine-tails. They both react to certain stimuli in ways that can be troublesome for the host.

He sighed and let the subject lie. Leaning against the wall and watching various aliens as they walked past, slowing down slightly to glance at the heightened security before going on their way. Among them an elegantly armored Asari with light-blue skin who slowed down more than the others, visibly hesitating before moving on. A few of the other aliens noticed that too and watched her movements obliquely.

Kakashi exhaled faintly and turned his gaze back to the wall on the opposite side of the hallway. Minutes quickly passing before the asari stomped past them again.. this time with disgust plastered all over her face. Not even slowing down... she simply left.

"Now, what was that about?" one of the turian officers asked out of the blue.

Naruto groaned, "You're asking me?"

The Jonin rolled his eyes, prepared to step in if an argument crops up.

* * *

Shepard almost felt sorry for the council as he watched their dismay at what Javik had told them over the course of this Q&A session. That is not to say he was unaffected by it.

Basically, Javik had just shown the council just how little the people of this cycle knew about the protheans. They weren't a peaceful scientific culture at all, more like aggressive imperialists who conquered and enslaved species with the justification that all life should stand together against the threat posed by synthetics. Their own version of the geth being; the Zha'til. They were also – to a man – Social Darwinists almost to the extreme.

Somehow, he managed to at the very least find a sense of admiration in regards to their pragmatic approach to war, no matter how brutal, monstrous and draconian their methods might be. Part of which were the genophage-like disease they unleashed against the makers, which the council did not want to believe was true when they first heard of it during that fateful briefing before the assault on the collector base... but which is completely undeniable now. The Zha'til was starting to become something truly monstrous, so as to avoid wasting resources.. they curbed the utterly alien Makers on the spot – just because their psychometric skills did not work on them – by sterilizing them.

But no matter how unforgivable, because of that act, it was a major trigger for the following series of events that lead to the kalinin becoming what they are today. If it wasn't for that... well...

Not that he was willing to condone the action though. There's a certain line between respect and thinking of it as the right thing to do.

"And so, now you know." Javik started hammering in the finalizing lines of this session, "I don't care if you don't understand me. Condemn and hate me all you wish. All I exist for now, is to see the reapers end. So is there anymore questions you want to ask, or shall we put aside this and focus on the real issue?"

Tevos seemed to be the only one remotely composed at this point. The rest either stunned or deep in thought, trying to digest all this information. "That will... be all, Javik." her tone slightly awkward.

The alien gave her both a nod and a frown as he leaned back against the bench he and rest of Shepard's group sat on.

"If you're done, can you answer me this..." Shepard spoke up finally, "... why do you trust Kabuto so much, to the point of handing him so much resources? Have you already forgotten what that bastard tried to do?"

"And what about you, who blew up the Bahak system? You've killed more people with your own hands than most." Sparatus growled.

Valern brushed that aside, "To answer your question: He came with offers of aid, and he offered much. So far it seems we've made the right choice, made evident by his contributions so far."

"And Shepard, we haven't forgotten what he and his accomplices attempted. We got people keeping an eye on his operations. He doesn't walk around unsupervised."

"One wrong step, and we'll bring him in." Sparatus said.

Udina stepped away from the window he had been staring through during most of Javik's monologues, "And as long as he continues to shell out contributions to the war effort, we'll continue to feed him resources."

"One day, councilor.." Shepard started pointing out, ".. One day, that willingness to offer support to people like him will come around and bite you in the ass."

"It is not like he controls the war effort however." Sparatus protested with a hint of anger, "He provides ships and equipment. But ultimately their deployment will be up to us. And considering the enemy the entire galaxy's currently at war with, any assistance is deeply appreciated. You said as much – though not in as many words – to reach out to non-Citadel affiliated factions for assistance. Even outrageous ones such as the Rachni and Geth." fixing Shepard with a glare, "You suggest calling for aid from those hostile to Citadel space, yet at the same time you condemn us for seeking aid from a dangerous vector just because he's not on your list of choices. Tell me, Shepard... aren't you being just a little bit hypocritical here?"

That stung. And with that, the turian councilor had successfully cornered him. Shepard realized that trying to take down Kabuto this way would only hurt his own credibility. How would he be able to mount an operation to retake Earth then? There are too many lives at stake for him to start getting selfish now. "So what can I do? What can I do to get your support?"

"Trying to carry the burden of the galaxy on your shoulders again, Shepard?" Sparatus lowered his voice, "What is it you plan?"

"What else?" the commander spread his arms wide, "We'll only defeat the reapers by combining our strength, something no other cycle before us have managed because of the reapers' control over the mass relays. We need to use this distinct advantage to build an armada like no other."

"And with the current state of things. How will you do this?"

"For that, I'm all ears. Please, I just need something to start with."

The council seemed willing to consider this. And the turian among them did seem to have something, "There is one thing. Primarch Fedorian recently called for a war summit to be held. However, since the reaper siege against Palaven escalated, we've largely lost contact with him. His last communique came from Menae, where our forces are currently bogged down in a protracted ground war. Commander, you got the most effective stealth-capable ship in Citadel space. It's the only ship that can make it past the reapers and get him out before things get even worse."

"And this will help me, how?"

"Shepard.." Mei spoke up with a raised hand, "If a Primarch's anything like a Kage, it's probably one of the best places to start."

"It is. The Primarch's the highest ranking officer in the hierarchy." Sparatus confirmed with a nod to the mizukage, though with slight awkwardness. He still remembered back when she used him as target practice albeit that was when she was under Cerberus control.

"Idealism can only go so far. If you want to reach your goal of assembling such a fleet .. You need for people in power to see you eye to eye. With Fedorian's help, that fleet you envision will be more probable than just a dream."

Shepard thought about it before his mind was made up, "You're right. Councilor, I'll do it."

"Good." it was probably the first time Sparatus smiled for what seemed like days, it was almost bizarre to watch. Even to his colleagues.

"And what of you?" Valern directed that question at Mei, as she's the one currently representing the faction she's part of. "Will you follow him?"

"To a point." the woman said. "We don't have the numbers to afford to get too deeply involved. We'll participate in this war, but in battles of our choosing."

"But for now...?"

"We'll head back to Palaven and see if we can assist. A few of us have clearly demonstrated that they can bring the smaller Destroyers down. There, we can try our hand at taking down their Dreadnoughts."

"I can imagine it won't be easy." Tevos commented.

"At least this time we'll be able to run wild instead of being forced to be cautious. That alone is a welcoming change."

Sparatus cleared his throat in slight indignation, "Just don't destroy our forces in the process."

"Naturally. We're shinobi, not hooligans."

Shepard was at the least relieved that the council's attitude towards the kalinin has lightened. Anderson did a nice job before he left the Citadel.

"Just do what you must. I will be watching you." Javik said, nodding with his eyes closed.

"Scary business all of it." Ino said nervously. "Naruto and Hinata might be able to handle those things, but I can't."

"Don't worry..." Shikamaru muttered quietly from where he stood almost invisibly, next to the door. "... you just might be able to nag them to death."

"Shut it."

"That's enough you two.." Mei told them as she rose from the bench, "I doubt the primarch's got the time to wait for us to stop dallying. By your leave, I'd like to return to the ship immediately."

Tevos looked up to her, "B-by all means." she nearly stuttered.

"There's no way you'll make it close to Palaven on that scrapheap you call a ship however." Udina said with no small amount of apprehension.

The mizukage and Shikamaru both winced at that. Their ship has served as their home for quite a long time already. So any downgrading remark towards it could be taken as a personal insult. Ino only came back to life recently, so she hadn't yet become attached to it that way. Still, Mei saw his point.. The Lance of the Six Paths is no stealth ship. "I was thinking the team we'll have go to Palaven might be able to hitch a hike with the Normandy. Of course, if the commander's fine with it..."

"They're more than welcome to join us." Shepard replied in kind as he stood up. He and the woman quickly shaking hands amiably.

"Good. Now if there is something else..."

"Not at all. We're done here." Shepard said, momentarily meeting Udina's gaze before he and the rest turned to leave.

"Then, this meeting's adjourned." Tevos said, and raised a finger to her chin.. looking mighty awkward all of a sudden. "Habit. My apologies."

Valern groaned, "This case wasn't half as embarrassing as others I can name. Take some solace in that."

Shepard wondered briefly what that was all about as he headed on his way out along with the rest when Mei approached him from the side.. "First, you need to come over to our ship. Nagato got something to show you."

He raised an eyebrow at her, "What is it?"

"Something you'll find interesting. Call it a boon."

Shepard paused for a moment as he exited the room. "Alright. Show me."

She smiled smugly, "Right this way then, commander."

* * *

"Hey, Ino. Sure took your time." Tenten greeted the Yamanaka as the latter entered the changing room. Just like the Normandy, the Lance of the Six Paths got a pair of bathrooms, separated by gender. But in this case attached to each its changing room.

"Give me a break..." Ino groaned as she hurried to get undressed. "It can't be helped. I can't control the length of those meetings." and quickly stacked her clothes on the bench before she threw herself underneath the closest available shower head, which immediately sprayed her with a steady stream of hot water, causing the girl to shiver in delight. "Ah.. been too long~"

"I know the feeling.." Tenten giggled, wrapping a towel around herself after the quick shower she just took.

The other girl hummed, "What's that?" gesturing at the measuring band nearby.

Tenten went and picked it up, "According to Nagato, we've gotten some new suits. And for the comfort of the wearer, their size can be adjusted. So, we need to take each others measurements. And before you ask, Kurotsuchi took mine before you came."

Ino seemed rather amused all of a sudden, the sudden grin on her face made the other girl giggle.

"What is it?"

"Just thinking of medical examinations long ago. Those were the days."

"You're talking like an old woman." Tenten laughed.

Ino sighed, "And just like that you killed the moment."

"You're welcome."

They shared a laugh. The pleasant sound echoing faintly throughout this miniscule space. Tenten plucking up the measuring band and readied it, "Heh. Finish the shower quickly, need to take your measurements next."

Behind them, a mechanical hiss announced another arrival as Hinata entered the changing room, and made sure to close the door behind her before she went over to the bench.

"Hey, slowpoke.." Tenten went over and prodded a finger against the Hyuga's left shoulder, "You're even slower than Ino today."

"S-sorry." the girl meekly replied.. "Got a lot on my mind."

"Did you... watch the news earlier?" Ino asked curiously.

"Not much.. By the time I went to see, it was almost over."

"Naruto got a bit of pain in his chest during it. What about you?"

"... A little."

"Don't know much about the whole Maker business yet. But damn, it must have been hard on you two."

"Y-yeah." Hinata replied, clutching her chest for a moment before pulling her jacket off, quickly undressing so she could get in the shower as well. "And it still is. All we can do, is wait for them to be extracted. And I fear Kabuto's the only one who can do it."

"Damn... that's not good."

"Most disconcerting is that we know so little about him." Tenten spoke up, "His life's so shrouded we don't know what is true or false. Much less what he's truly capable of. He was once confirmed to be at the skill-level of a Jonin, but that was years ago."

"He's a very intelligent and shrewd man." Hinata said as she finished undressing and moved over to the shower head next to Ino's. The other two girls almost feeling flat next to the Hyuga for a moment before the conversation managed to find its way back onto the right path. "That's about all we need to be mindful of right now."

"Y-yeah.. you're right." Ino said as soon as she stopped feeling like she's Sakura next to the girl taking a shower alongside her.

"You know what?" Tenten inquired.

"What?" both of the others asked in unison.

"Nagato's got an interesting idea, concerning those suits."

Hinata blinked, "A-and that is?"

"Some of the new suits will allow us to possess the strength of a Jinchuriki without having those monsters sealed inside our bodies. Think about it, you and Naruto, backed up by the power of two tailed beasts, each."

"To me... it sounds like asking for trouble."

Tenten seemed excited enough as she pushed on, "But if it works. It could give you a major power boost."

"Uh-huh." Hinata nodded, her reaction rather lax.

"What do you mean, uh-huh?" exasperation coloring the brunette's tone.

"You don't know how difficult being a Jinchuriki is. If something goes wrong for everyone wearing each their armor backed by the power of a tailed beast, terrifying things can happen." the Hyuga paused as she tried to explain with a degree of seriousness, "It's not just about raw power. Power alone is nothing but an ingredient to invite chaos without the strength to exert control and proper judgment."

"You're saying we can't afford to lose control." Ino replied, more a statement than a question.

Hinata was unresponsive as she locked herself down in deep thought, letting the warm water pour down across her body until she finally leaned forward.. touching the wall with her forehead, "Yes.." she finally parted her lips to say, "...we can ill afford _any_ loss of control, or we will be lost as well. The hachibi said something like that, back when Killer Bee taught us."

"That thing could talk?" Tenten asked, her curiosity piqued. "Thought it was just Killer Bee speaking whenever that thing opened its mouth."

"When it had something to say. B-but, there's always been a strange sense of sadness in its voice, I've always thought that odd."

"That's our observant Hinata alright." the blonde commented with a grin. "What was it so sad about?"

"I... I don't know. I just... kind of read it between the lines. It's probably nothing."

Ino stepped away from the shower the moment she was finished. Its scanner quickly noting the absence of a body underneath the shower head and stopped the water. "It's either there, or it isn't. Maybe it was so fed up with being cooped up inside that silly rapper wanna-be." But before she could get back to her clothes, Tenten intercepted the blonde from behind.

"Now, where do you think _you're_ going?" the brunette snickered, cracking the measuring band like it's a whip before coiling it around the blonde's chest before she could even jump away.

Ino squealed as the cold band was brought against her soft skin. The sound so sudden and high-pitched that it made a certain alien sitting conspicuously against the wall just outside the changing room – as if trying to listen in – wince.

Javik just happened to be there as he wondered where the blonde female went all of a sudden, and ended up finding something interesting to investigate, this place contained many things worth investigating. Though an interruption rarely came alone as someone approached him from just around the corner, snickering at the sight.

"Ho... what are you doing here, four-eyed freak?"

The prothean looked up to give the approaching Hidan a glare appropriate to the situation. He was especially not pleased with the apparent nickname.

"Wait, don't tell me..." Hidan said before Javik could say anything at all, momentarily distracted by the giggles coming from inside the changing room.. "Oh, I get it. You old dirty sly fox you!"

Javik's face quickly twisted to show a deeply flummoxed grimace. "What...?"

"And lucky for you, I know of a pretty nice peeping spot." gesturing over his shoulder, "Here, I'll show you."

But before the misunderstanding could escalate further, it was blown into orbit around the galaxy as a nearby female cleared her throat in disapproval as Mei and Konan made their appearance.. both probably on their way to take a shower too when they came across the two acting so suspiciously.

Hidan immediately fell flat against the floor both mentally and physically, knowing what's about to come next. Javik himself felt a rising sense of dread he hasn't felt since the first time he fought in the proximity of a reaper, and could not for the world understand why.

He would soon learn that there are things perhaps more terrifying than reapers in all the cosmos.

* * *

The plan was in motion, at last. The last few hours of intense tension was about to be lifted as the line of freighters slowly climbed through the asteroid belt, aiming to get back into the emptiness of space beyond.

Zetsu watched the ghostly holograms as he watched the Madara's labor give ample fruits. His unblinking gaze set on the images of the massed ships between them and the mass relay. "Any moment now..." he let the words slip.

Another fleet of geth came through the relay just a few minutes ago, moving in to join the reaper fleet which almost seemed to balk in disgust at their approach. But, by doing so, they unknowingly gave their prey the most legitimate vector to pull this whole thing off.

But it needed to get started soon. It did not take long before the closest fleet started reacting, with the massive dreadnought pivoting to bring its massive main gun to bear. Gradually circling this part of the belt with nearly exaggerated slowness. During all of this, a projectile suddenly spat forth from the prow of the ship.

It barreled through space, and went straight through the reaper fleet without hitting any of them. But despite the apparent failure, the massive ships seemed to jerk in an outrageous manner.

And that was before another two projectiles were launched in quick succession from the approaching geth fleet behind them, also courtesy of Madara. "So... this was his plan, huh?" he asked himself while watching the last pair of bullets ram themselves into the back of a reaper with impunity. Though without causing much in the way of damage at all. It almost jumped in surprise and whipped around with anger flaring up if those aggressively flashing lights across its blackened hull are of any indication.

Either they saw through Madara's plan, or they genuinely thought their own servants had just turned on them. Either way... without delay, they struck back against the geth fleets to obliterate both of them. If they somehow managed to find out Madara's at fault, they would still destroy the geth simply to prevent similar incidents from happening again. Basically cleaning the scene to make sure nothing can be used against them.

Zetsu looked to the side as a black spot appeared in thin air next to him, indicating Madara's return. "Now?"

"Now." the leader emerged, once again quite strained from the effort. The galaxy sure liked providing its inhabitants with challenges.

Zetsu quickly moved to broadcast a message across the freighters on a hurriedly encrypted line, "Alrighty. All ships, get out of the belt and initiate pinpoint jump to the mass relay immediately. We're getting out of here."

The number of asteroids around their ships gradually declined over the course of the next quarter of minutes while the battle started far away. Lights filling the distant view that lasted for the blink of an eye. So distant none of them could even hope to see the fleet action with their bare eyes.

The hologram however showed as the reaper dreadnought among them landed on the geth equivalent closest to the freighters' position. The victim tried to retaliate, but the giant synthetic above soon dissected it grossly. Laser-like red lights of melted metal slicing through the hull of the ship now deemed too worthless to suffer the existence of any further.

Deep inside, the reapers utterly terrified him. And if asked, would not be afraid to admit it. Zetsu swallowed nervously. Wishing the world were as simple and relatively harmless as it used to be just a few years ago, remembering the time with fondness when he was simply a spy for Akatsuki. Where he could watch battles such as the one between Itachi and the brat Sasuke from a safe distance.

Now, he lived with the knowledge that though they were far away from the main action, the fact never left him since he first learned of it, that they're still well within range of the enemy guns. A fact which the universe eagerly reminded him of as the freighter in the rear of their diminished formation took a shot and vanished from the display. A Destroyer disengaged from the fight with the geth to pursue the small smattering of ships trying to slip by.

Madara stood as unflinching as a mountain though, "Jump." he demanded with no apparent sense of urgency. Just a dangerous tone that indicated slowpokes would suffer much worse than simple death if his subordinates did not comply with his order immediately.

Zetsu, reassured by his boss' steely disposition repeated the order. The stars beyond the canopy of the bridge subsequently turning into stripes signaling a successful jump.

"When we reach the relay, set our heading to the Armstrong Nebulae, and then to Hades Gamma. The enemy will very possibly try to follow us through the relay."

"A-alright. We'll be at the relay within the hour."

"Good. Keep me posted." Madara finally said before he left the bridge, leaving Zetsu alone in the bridge along with the less than talkative bridge crew as they nearly mindlessly went about their duties.

With little else to do other than wait. Hoping he wouldn't be forced to fight something like a reaper in the near future. It was bad enough just seeing one. But in a way, he would be fighting them soon by proxy, through those clones of his.

* * *

Author note: Another chapter done. In retrospect after the previous chapter I thought I may had bitten off more than I could chew. But things seemed to work out just fine.


	50. Chapter 50

**Chapter 50**

* * *

It was dark, as usual. This place inside him never changed, yet it never failed to disturb him.

The shallow pool of blood-red chakra still covered the floor. Naruto trudged through it almost aimlessly. It looked like blood, but it felt as though he's trying to make his way through a thick carpet of snow. It reached no higher than his ankles, but it might as well be all the way up to his hips.

But regardless of how aimlessly he wander, there is only one place to go in this darkness, lit up only by the dim radiance of the chakra below. No matter which direction, he'd always arrive at the gigantic bars that stood resolutely between himself, and the enormous mass of raw malevolence that is the Kyubi.

The boy expected the beast to throw at him a sideways glance the moment he arrived. Instead, he only found it giving something in front of him a perplexed glare which almost seared the very air.

"What? What is it?" Naruto asked, his voice echoing through the void. But that question was quickly replaced as he followed the Kyubi's eyes, and came to lay his eyes on a tiny transparent water-bubble, which now served as the prison of the maker still inside his body. Hovering motionlessly in the air between himself and the tailed beast like it's resting on a pedestal he couldn't see. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Observing." the maker replied with a deeply monotonous voice. It was strange seeing it so... sedate.

The boy felt his annoyance flare up instantly, "Observing what?"

"You never noticed? … How unfair of me, asking of you what we never thought about."

"What are you talking about?"

"A rough epiphany. A strange thought."

Naruto shook his head in frustration, almost tempted to just walk over and beat some coherency into the thing, despite the potential complications such an action could invite. Was the thing growing senile or something? "You're not making any sense."

If the sealed maker reacted in any way, the boy noticed nary a thing. So transparent – it did not even distort the view to the bar behind it. "You ever thought about it, child? If there's more to this..." it rumbled with the slightest hint of anger, though not a single iota of it was directed at the boy..

"Huh? What?" Naruto wanted to go closer to pry a clear answer out of it.. but halted and looked around as his vision became blurry, a hint of him waking up. But was this a dream, then, or not?

"... than..." the orb continued regardless. Its voice deepening as the room faded away, "... meets... the... eye...?"

* * *

He nearly jumped as his eyes flew open. A quick look-about reminded him he's in the Normandy, familiar despite the vast interior changes. A sigh escaping his lips as he let himself relax again, looking over to the rest of his team.. all wearing armor, though only the regular OCA armor for now. "Phew..."

"You okay?" Hinata's gentle voice tickled pleasantly against his ears as her concerned eyes met his.

"Y-yeah.. just a little nightmare."

"Fitting, considering we're about to fly into one." Shikamaru drawled as he kept on furiously typing commands into his omni-tool, displaying great competence towards its use. "We'll be at Palaven soon. There's something big going on there."

"We haven't been gone for that long." Naruto muttered, stretching his arms with a yawn. They left the Citadel the moment the team joining Shepard for this upcoming mission had been decided... and the sets of OCA supplied by Kabuto transferred over to the Normandy. He looked to the equipment table not far away, where Temari and Tenten chattered lively over a piece of equipment. Basically a rather clumsy-looking war fan attached to the side of a M-96 Mattock. Another bizarre weapon from Tenten's weapons' factory. But Temari seemed appreciative enough with the design despite the apparent crudeness.

Basically, their team's separated into two two groups with each their objective. Naruto quickly checked his omni-tool. Not that he was skilled at it... far from it. Whenever he tried to do something, almost ninety-five percent of the time, he'd end up with a strange error screen, courtesy of a VI no less; '_Are you fucking kidding me?'_ due to his rabid incompetence in regard to computers. This time however was one of the remaining five percent as a roster popped up.

_Anti-Reaper_:

Naruto Uzumaki – Heavy assault, spearhead.

Hinata Hyuga – Heavy assault, medic.

_Anti-Personnel_:

Shikamaru Nara – Long-range support, tactician.

Temari – Long-range offense.

Tenten – Long-range offense.

And then there's Shepard's group.

_Primarch-retrieval_:

Commander John Shepard – Mission leader, Spectre.

Lieutenant-Commander Ashley Williams.

Javik.

Yeah, it did not take long for the Council to fully restore Shepard's Spectre credentials, which they revoked in the wake of the earlier Bahak incident. That confirmation came right after the Normandy's departure from the Citadel.

"There.. got through." the Nara blurted out with a tiny grin of triumph, "Guys, you may want to take a look at this..."

"Huh, what is it?" Temari asked as she and the rest quickly gathered in a circle around Shikamaru. The suna-nin stood behind the boy while the other girl leaned down and placed a hand on his shoulder. Hinata and Naruto himself edged in closer up front as the appointed leader of their team worked to bring something up.

"News coverage. Take a loot at this, it's what's going on right now where we are headed." Shikamaru's omni-tool opened up, allowing a holographic bubble to spawn above it, displaying a massive battle taking place in orbit between Palaven, and its vital moon, Menae. The view – filled by a swarm of what seemed like hundreds of turian cruisers along with swarms of frigates arranged in a series of flawlessly executed formations, with an even greater number of fighters darting towards the comparatively tiny number of reapers on the other side.

"Nice." the suna-nin whistled, leaning down for a closer look as the fleet unleashed another destructive volley against the enemy that dared to invade the space around the turians' home world. But to her disappointment, many of the shots were clean misses against what should have been easy targets.

"Oh, come on..." Tenten hissed, "What's with that accuracy?"

"What gives, Shikamaru?" Naruto looked to the Nara for answers.

Shikamaru shrugged, and opened a window on his omni-tool, as if to check something. The Uzumaki found himself admiring the Nara's mastery of the strange device. "What a drag.. Okay. The reason is that warfare plays a heavy focus on maintaining formation when fighting large-scale battles involving any larger number of ships." he explained as he read through a codex entry, "If they don't do that, it greatly increases the chance for collisions and unintentional fratricide. This way, many shots miss – but only enemy craft gets hit. Not counting collateral damage."

"So, individualism is frowned upon in space battles then." Temari asked while her mind digested the information.

"Individualism's valued in small-scale fights. Just as collectivism's valued in large-scale ones, more like." Shikamaru clarified.. "Though, that's just personal observation. In the end, it's not in our place to criticize. These aliens have many past experiences to draw upon. We are still novices at space combat by comparison."

"D-don't sell yourself short, Shikamaru.." Hinata offered a word, "You did well during the battle at the collector base."

"So where do we come in?" Temari shot in.

The Nara looked to the girls with a frown, "We won't be following Shepard all the way." he opened up another image, showing the gargantuan form of a reaper dreadnought on Menea's surface, seen from above. "This – is our target. Our entire mission revolves around bringing that thing down, or at least damage it enough for the turians to finish it off. That said, don't be too reckless – and I'm looking at you particularly, Naruto." giving the other boy a glare, "A stunt like the one at Huygens dome, we can do without. Alright?"

"Never going to live it down, are you?" Naruto asked in slight indignation.

"It's to make sure you know the dangers involved. A moment of stupidity on your side here – no matter how righteous your cause might be – could get us all killed." Shikamaru told him sternly.

The other boy fumed, "Y-yes."

"Good. Now we're just waiting for Shepard and whoever he'll bring along – Oh, speak of the devil, and lo..." gesturing to the elevator as it opened, revealing Shepard with Javik and that woman Ashley flanking him from behind. Around them the hangar burst into activity as weapons were loaded onto the shuttle, with that muscular guy James Vega carrying the brunt of the effort. With his help the preparations were done away with quickly before Shepard could even reach the shuttle himself. One other guy, Cortez climbing on board to act as its pilot.

The commander and Ashley both wore OCA, while Javik on the other hand didn't. For all their modularity, the suits did not have the configuration to suit up a prothean.

"Ready to go?" Shepard asked the moment he walked past the teens.

"We were just waiting for you." Shikamaru drawled lazily as he picked himself up, "Okay bums, let's hit the road."

"Could that _possibly_ sound _any_ lazier?" Naruto complained.

"What am I, Might Guy? Get moving. Go go go..."

"Shikamaru Nara, the last one to expect a decent pep talk from." Temari huffed as she climbed into the shuttle, the other girl of their group giving a hearty laugh of agreement to that. The Nara was quick to give them both a mild-mannered bonk on the head for that.

All the grown ups in the hangar watched them go at it. Many completely unsure whether or not it's be a good idea letting them tag along to a war zone, despite what they've seen up till now. It was like watching a bunch of college students heading out to play a game of football.

* * *

"The strongest military in the galaxy, and the reapers are obliterating it."

"So they're leaning their weight mostly against those they recognize as threats." Shikamaru said as Shepard and the others watched the still ongoing fleet-engagement. "No lack of savviness there." the boy already knew just how bad the situation was and did not bother with a second look. Instead, he went over to the window on the port-side of the shuttle, peering down at the largely barren surface below them. Though far from lifeless if one actually counts the flocks of husks as such.

They appeared to be pouring out of a crevice, which stretched and zigzagged all the way into the distance.. coincidental or not – towards the massive squid-like ship stomping across in the horizon, surrounded by the dancing lights. "Open the hatch." the Nara finally decided, "We'll drop down and work our way from here." his comrades did not waste time in getting off the cabin seats, all gathering around him.

"What, you kidding?" Cortez blurted out from the cockpit, "It's hell down there!"

"And we're here to clean it up..." Temari said impatiently, gripping her newly crafted weapon tightly, eager to try it out; "...so, open the hatch."

"Do it." Shepard told Cortez, who held up his hands in resignation before opening it with the press of a button. Javik seemed like he was just about to follow the kalinin out of the craft when Shepard in turn placed a hand on the alien's shoulder, "I know you're curious, but we got our own job to do."

"I know all too well." Javik replied, passively watching as the youngsters all leaped out one by one.

Shikamaru threw himself out last. He could only dimly hear the sigh caused by the shuttle closing the hatch above, his attention drawn to the view below. The fall only lasted for a couple of seconds before he hit the ground, the impact kicking up a small cloud of dust and gravel. With a quiet huff, the Nara brushed the cloud away and ventured to see how the others are doing.. "Everyone alright?"

A series of acknowledgments promptly arrived at his ears. The only one close to his position being Temari just ahead. While the rest moved in to regroup at their position. Hinata and Tenten appearing from the immediate left.. Naruto came last, as he had to climb a cliff to get here. "Phew.. nearly fell into the crevice."

"Okay." Shikamaru went straight to the point. "We cut through from here. Naruto and Hinata take point, mind any brute you see. The rest of us will cover the flanks and rear." he stopped to groan at a clamor erupting from nearby... like hundreds of tortured wails, "And would anyone please take care of that noise?"

The noise basically being the cries and howls from husks approaching them like a horde of undead. Stumbling forward while waving their clawed hands into thin air much like zombies as well. This was Temari's first time seeing the creatures up close, and was clearly disgusted.. and more than eager to deal with them accordingly. The suna-nin fully unfolded her new giant fan with a single graceful stroke and gripped the butt of the Mattock attached to it, moved to the front of the group and braced herself as she brought the fan to bear while channeling her chakra through it. "Wind release: Cast net!"

With the resulting wave, a series of narrow wind-currents were created and launched at the husks charging their position. The resulting net of cutting winds sliced clean through the closest smattering of husks and knocked away the rest behind those. And the girl was generous enough to try again, finishing the rest off with another net of wind.

"Nice, totally awesome!" Naruto chimed in over seeing such delicate control of wind release.

But Temari ignored him as she came around to regard Tenten, "Hey, what's with this? Can't channel my chakra through it very well at all!"

The brunette growled at the complaint, "What else did you expect? You know how hard it is to find decent chakra-conducting materials in this day and age?"

"Stow your bantering for later." Shikamaru nearly barked at the two, "Right now, we got a mission to complete."

Hinata seemed to be ahead of them at that, already covered by a thin demon cloak as she readied herself. "Ready when you are..." with Naruto following up with the same level of preparation immediately afterward.

"Then go. We're wasting time here." the Nara told them and waved towards the – seemingly – closest reaper even as more husks spilled out around them. "Everyone, move out!"

All the others blurred into motion, the surrounding landscape quickly being torn up as the husks, ill-prepared for an attack by kalinin, were steadily cut down by the opposition. Shikamaru on the other hand remained standing there – not budging an inch as he craned his neck to look upon Palaven. It looked so close, it seemed like the moon was going to ram it at any moment.

Then there's the fires. The horrible firestorms spreading across the surface, set to swallow an entire continent whole. How many people have died so far in this siege? How many are dying right now? Was this how their own world looked like?

The boy ducked as a few bullets passed over his head, but no further. A bunch of Cannibals had decided to join the fray, only to be beset by Naruto, drawing their fire. Hinata faced down a brute and pressed a palm against its abdomen as it tried to charge her, but did not realize it was dead before its midsection crashed into and rolled along the ground, more than twenty feet behind the rest of the body, courtesy of Hinata's vacuum palm. Combined with the powers of the Sanbi, her gentle fist had become truly frightening. If she could do something like that to such monsters.. He did not even want to think what she could do to follow organics if she put her mind to it.

Soon, with most of the husks destroyed, he gave the signal for the rest to leave the remaining few alone so they could get a move on. The Nara leaped ahead, the rest following suit. He spared one last glance at Palaven as he landed by the crevice, and kicked a husk that happened to appear right then off the cliff and into the shadowed depths below.

For the faintest moment as foul memories crawled under his skin, he wished Asuma was still around.

* * *

It did not take them long to get into the makeshift turian fort after disembarking from the shuttle. Cortez did not take any chances though and lifted off right away. Since they dropped off the kalinin team, the number of husks coming at the fort from the east had been cut down sharply.

"Hold your fire, friendly inbound!" a turian atop the barricade ahead cried out to his comrades before hurrying to open it up so Shepard and the others could enter, closing it shut once they came inside.

None of the soldiers took this silence for granted, instead befuddled over the absence of enemy targets. No one dared to think of the possibility that the enemy had run out of troopers to throw at them after the last several days. It felt like a calm heralding the worst storm yet. "Where are those things?"

"This reeks of trouble..." another grunted, gripping his turret-controls tightly.

"The waves will restart soon." Shepard shouted, to make sure those atop the walls heard.. "They're just preoccupied with something else right now." only moving on once he got the answer:

"Yeah? Unless their preoccupied with dying, it sure doesn't help us much now, does it?"

"Ah, they're dying alright. Tons of 'em." the commander hollered over his shoulder, he and the rest now moving into the camp proper. Dozens of turians could be seen either manning the perimeter walls, barricades and various stations, or rushing here and there with weapons and equipment. Soldiers, combat engineers.. and even a pair of Orocca troopers throwing fireballs from the top of a distant wall while a nearby engineer struggled to repair a damaged turret. Several fighters sped past them above, trying to stay under the enemy radar.. to the point they nearly gave the ground a haircut.

Ashley did not say much as she followed the commander closer to the command post. Javik however seemed to watch the view with great familiarity, having seen this kind of situation many times before, but nevertheless watched the turians going at it with great solemnity.

They made their way through until someone stepped out of the crowd, one very familiar-looking turian; "Shepard, is that you?"

Shepard's eyed widened in surprise as he recognized the old friend, "Garrus. I did not expect to find you here!" quite glad to see yet another friendly face in all this misery.

"I could say the same." the turian chuckled, nodding in Ashley's general direction, "Williams, good to see you."

And she in turn nodded in return, "Good to see you too."

"And who's this? New friend of yours?" this time gesturing at Javik.

Shepard raised an eyebrow, it seemed the broadcast hadn't reached everywhere, but in these conditions he came to think of himself as foolish for thinking otherwise. "His name's Javik, he's a prothean."

Garrus was silent for a moment as he took that in.. "A prothean?"

"Yes."

"A real breathing prothean?"

"That's right."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Really?"

"Really!"

"Really!"

"Really..." Javik said, rubbing his head as if a headache's brewing.

The turian raised his shoulders, "Damn, Shepard. Your recruitment-capabilities are insane. How many souls did you sell to pull that one out of hell's embrace? Professional soldiers, all sorts of misfits, aliens with superpowers and even Legion, a _geth_.. And now, this. Gunning for a sympathetic reaper next time, all for the sake of completeness? "

Shepard echoed the movement, "Maybe next week." he and the rest reflexively ducking as another group of fighters rushed past overhead. "But right now, I need to see the General."

"Right this way." Garrus gestured for them to follow. With the old friend's guidance, it did not take them long to get where the general's standing, within a nearby makeshift bunker, leaning over a map while dishing out orders to a few nearby officers.

"General Corinthus?" Shepard stepped forward and asked the moment the last officer had gotten his orders and left.

"Shepard." the withered turian's eyes did not leave the map at all. "I suppose you're the reason there's a lull in the eastern flank..."

"Not me." the commander replied, "We airdropped a team of kalinin some distance away from the base."

That got some of his attention, "Kalinin you say? I did not expect them to return and lend a hand so soon. So where are they headed now?" Corinthus did not waste any time.

Shepard was more interested in asking about the Primarch, but decided to answer; "They're heading for the reaper up north."

The general glanced at the enormous reaper stomping about so eerily silently in the far distance. "_That_ reaper...?"

"Yes."

Corinthus tapped a thoughtful finger against the map.. "Garrus Vakarian?"

"Yes?" Garrus straightened on the spot.

"Send a message to camp twenty through twenty-three, tell them there may be kalinin heading their way and get them to try and link up with them."

"Almost sounds like you've got a plan in store." Shepard half-asked.

"As a matter of fact, we do. But we've lacked the manpower to pull it off after yesterday's waves. We'll miss the deadline if this delay continues."

"I'm sure they can lend a hand. But the main reason we're here is to find and extract Primarch Fedorian. Where is he?"

Corinthus' solid glare faltered, frowning as he looked to Shepard... and answered with a strained voice; "He's dead."

* * *

"Everything's ready?" Kisame asked impatiently as he glared into the distance of this seemingly endless plain of grass and scarce bushes. "Can we get this started?"

"Not too quick, Nagato... are there any nearby settlements we've overlooked?" A asked, the muscled raikage stood there like a statue, his gaze more focused on the clear sky. "Temporary or otherwise?"

"There is nothing to worry about, A." Nagato replied as he approached them after a tour around the area with the shuttle, and made sure to park it far away from this designated spot before coming over, "I've looked. Checked it, and double-checked it. We're in the green."

Onoki sat on the ground, rather annoyed by all the precautions being taken. Understandable concerning what they are about to embark on, but annoying anyway. His eyes on the five urns and kettles lying within the reinforced box next to him, each acting as the container of a tailed beast.

While several of their youngsters are out there playing war, the rest worked to find a suitable place for the transfer. Finding one proved to be easy thanks to the human Admiral Hackett, who they managed to contact thanks to Shepard.

This planet was located far away from the front line, and is sparsely populated. So the threat of reapers coming by was minimal...

The aging tsuchikage reached out a hand, "The first one."

Nagato came closer and plucked a pearl-white circular box the size of a platter from the inside of his cloak and handed it over.

Onoki accepted it and spent a moment trading the surprisingly light-weight container between his hands, his eyes wary. It looked so fragile he almost expected it to fall apart in his very hands. One of the containers belonging to the special armor brought by that little lass Tayuya. The Jinchuriki armor, or JCA they now referred to it as for convenience.

"So, shall we get started?" Kisame asked, sounding even more impatient. The guy was really getting into the job of taking care of the Lance's engine room.

"Yes, we will now.." the old man grumpily replied, putting down the box and retrieving one of the urns in turn. The plan would sound simple to most people in the galaxy, but it isn't. Stage one: Free the tailed beasts. Stage two: Subdue them. Then finally; Stage three: Reseal them inside the JCA containers. "Be ready, all of you. I'm about to release the Ichibi." he quickly jotted down symbols on the ground, essential for the release ceremony. Once done, he placed the urn firmly in the middle. The tiny object oozed chakra right away.

A scowled at the restlessness it seemed to radiate. The one-tails writhed invisibly within the tiny object on the ground. Clearly excited by the prospect of what looked like certain freedom.

Onoki deepened his mind in concentration as he put his hands together. It was almost like a form of meditation, only with a maelstrom of chaos deep within, both isolated and surrounded by an ocean of calm. Essentially the relationship between the Biju and the object it's sealed within. The old man focused his chakra, and with utmost focus began to peel away the seal.

The others watched tensely as the urn began to tremble, with a ghostly laugh echoing from it, like it came from a hall at the end of a nearly endless corridor. A sensation of drunken malice spilling out as the seal pulsed with energy.

And with a blink, the old man opened his eyes. The urn was ready to burst.. "Here we go..."

* * *

Author notes: 50th chapter! To think that early on before I started writing, I thought I'd be able to wrap this story up in ten to twenty chapters. But now I'm at the 50th chapter, and it's still far from over. Plenty and a million thanks for the support so far.


	51. Chapter 51

**Chapter 51**

* * *

"Has the drone arrived yet?"

Admiral Hackett waited almost impatiently within the briefing room of his ship. With Arcturus station destroyed, the SA's base of operation had been relocated to the flagship of its fifth fleet, the dreadnought; SSV Arizoba. With almost the entire parliament gone, he was effectively placed as the head of the Systems Alliance. A most frightening position, which he had little choice but to accept. Even with recent favorable developments, the future still remained uncertain.

His deepest fear was to become humanity's last admiral. A fear he shared with many leaders across the galaxy.

The screen in front of him was adorned with the image of one of the younger human colony worlds. Most of the current settlements currently being almost strictly agricultural. But small colony or not, it still possess a modest garrison standing watch over the world with its small fleet of VI drones. And through one of them, he wished to see what the kalinin are currently doing on that world's surface.

The explanation provided by their eldest, about what they planned to do was clear enough. But he was still rather curious about what is going to happen. So he contacted the local garrison and ordered a VI drone sent out to where the kalinin have landed.

The commanding officer of the garrison answered his question after having gone and checked the distance between the target area, and the drone's current location. "It's still five minutes out."

"I see. Make sure to maintain distance while observing them. Battles involving kalinin have a very noticeable record of being flashy." the Admiral told him calmly, thinking back on past incidents of note, like the one that occurred on the Citadel months ago. Teens harnessing the power of energy-based creatures – created through a process best described as unholy – sealed within their bodies.

Deep down, he wasn't sure whether or not to thank Anderson for entrusting him with everything he found out during his time as the councilor representing humanity. "Once the drone arrive, transmit what it sees directly to my ship through properly encrypted channels."

"Will do, sir."

Absently, the Admiral checked his watch. Just two minutes until the VI drone arrives. The aging man leaned against the chair, and waited in utmost silence. A minute later, the main screen popped up, adjusted to accommodate the incoming signal he was waiting for.

At first, it was full of static due to an enormous energy-signature affecting the drone. It looked like the drone would crash for a moment.. until the image finally stabilized.

He expected to see something quite outrageous, and was right as a massive figure loomed over the forest the drone hovered above. It somewhat resembled a tanuki. Almost its entire body covered by eccentric black markings, especially across its massive tail, which the beast had no difficulty hefting. Hackett had to actually remind himself that its an energy – or more precisely – chakra construct. It looked as life-like as any ordinary animal... except its sheer size. That it's made of energy was the only way such a gigantic creature made sense.

And its behavior was little different from an animal too... until it saw something it obviously didn't like and raised a massive arm, while inflating its own gut until it slammed it flat with its fist and expelled the enormous amount of chakra it had gathered during that inflating process into a 'bullet' through the mouth – flattening a large portion of the landscape it aimed the projectile at.

Only, it did not detonate. Instead it simply... halted, and dispersed. The huge tanuki slammed its fists into the ground in agitation and attempted another shot, until the area around it came apart.. massive chunks of the ground falling towards the sky, as if the planet's gravity had been overturned.

That little bit corresponded with what was seen on Illium. Hackett remembered how he reacted at the time. Something like this... he initially refused to believe such a thing had happened. But there was no choice but to accept that such things truly _does_ exist.

The monster flailed as it was gradually pulled up into the air, gravitating in the direction of the tiny black orb responsible for this phenomenon. Dozens of tons' worth of dirt and rock gathered up around it as the orb uprooted much of the area, eventually burying the tanuki to the point it could do longer fight back.

And then the blow to seal the deal was dealt as an incredibly huge projectile made of water in the visage of a shark formed and was sent at the ball of dirt, and obliterated it in the ensuing explosion. Following this, the tanuki fell to the ground below, quite stunned and subdued.

With it down, the sealing process would surely follow. That said, the aging Admiral did not think this process would be that easy. But then again, only kalinin could handle something like that without the need of a armored division at their back.

One thought tickled his mind though; depending on how the rest goes... this battle will probably annoy more than a few local topographers. It's difficult enough to map an entire planet without a bunch of super-powered aliens going about altering the landscape like a bunch of rambunctious kids in a sandbox.

* * *

"That went easier than I expected." A commented as he watched the former missing-nins' swift triumph over the Shukaku.

Onoki shrugged, watching the action placidly as the dust thrown up by the impact slowly cleared away, "What did you expect? Without hosts, tailed beasts don't have any more intelligence than simple animals. Thus, they can't deploy their immense power effectively." he raised an eyebrow at A, "Why not join in? The three of you working together and this will be finished even easier."

"And what about you?"

"I'm just here to release the beasts, and seal them away into the new containers." the old man grunted, and levitated himself along with the carpet underneath him, and the items which orbited around him as he started approaching the grounded tanuki. Defeated, it's the perfect opportunity to seal the beast away.

Upon arriving after a few minutes of travel, he got himself and the items back on the ground and jotted down new symbols with the tip of his index finger for the sealing ceremony, and placed the first JCA container gingerly in the middle of it.

The others gathered nearby, waiting for the old man to seal the Shukaku away so he may move on to release the next beast.

Onoki put his hands together and focused. In contrast to the former ceremony, in this one the empty container – awaiting its tailed beast – acted as the calm eye of a growing storm of chakra that gravitated towards the item with increasing force.

The Shukaku sensed it, and grumbled a protest... knowing what's about to happen despite its current diminished mind. The beast becoming transparent as the sealing process progressed, drawn into the container which would now serve as its new prison.

A hurricane enveloped them, spiraling downwards with incredible ferocity. Against this, the tailed beast could do nothing but let freedom slip out of its grasp and vanish as the ceremony was completed. And as soon as the hurricane had fully subsided, Onoki plucked up the container and inspected it. Looking it over to make sure the Shukaku was sealed away properly, and hummed in approval at finding no sign of faults. The old man could feel the object humming with the power of the Ichibi. "That's the first one." Onoki announced, and started preparing for the release of another beast. He had lost track of which one is which... "You better be ready, here it comes."

* * *

Palaven on fire.. that was something General Victus hoped he'd never see. Both in life, and in whatever afterlife awaited him after death. But reality is cruel, and causing trouble just seemed to be a hobby it cherished greatly.

He averted his eyes from the destruction, only to see another set of disasters as he laid his eyes on the perimeter surrounding his outpost, or at least three quarters of it, with the base situated at the base of a tall cliff. A cozy little place with a grand view to the end of the galaxy.

_No_... he demanded that thought begone as he focused on his task. A shuttle had been set for his outpost with the purpose of delivering a targeting laser to use against the Reaper dreadnought strolling across the horizon right ahead. The dreadnought _Seeker of Justice_ hovered in orbit around Palaven, at the rear of the fleets currently engaging the reapers. Waiting for the targeting data for long-range bombardment.

Unfortunately, the shuttle had been shot down while en route. With the targeting laser stuck somewhere in enemy territory. Victus tried to mobilize his force to go in and retrieve it, but was forced back here with heavy casualties by seemingly endless waves of husks.

_Damn it_... He watched as yet another wave of synthetic monsters battered the perimeter, causing further casualties among the already few remaining defenders. The_ Seeker of Justice_ can only wait for so long. The window of opportunity would only remain open for another two hours.

"What we need now, is a miracle." he muttered to himself.

Then the long-range radio sparked to life as an update came through. After a bullet hit it, the thing has been stuck on receiving. Making it impossible to send out a request for assistance, "This is a general update to camp twenty through twenty-three: We've found out that a number of kalinin may be heading your way. Their apparent target is reaper-six up north. General order: Attempt to ask them for assistance in retrieving the targeting laser."

Victus' mandibles twitched once in appreciation, "That will work. Karsus!" he shouted for one of his more talented scouts, who were for the moment being treated for a slight flesh wound. Alas, he got the sharpest eyes of all of those present. Able to snatch up all them little details.

"S-sir?" the scout stumbled to his feet.

The General waved his hand at the observation tower that dominated the middle of the outpost, "Get up there. I've got reports that kalinin might be nearby. Look for them, and get their attention! We need them to come to us, got it?"

Karsus scrambled to it as he left the small infirmary and headed for the tower, nimbly climbing the ladder.

Victus watched the scout go at it, and ordered his soldiers at the perimeter to tighten up their fire. The chance of the aliens passing his outpost specifically was slim. And far as he knew, the other outposts had been overrun by the enemy. So if they're nowhere close, the group of kalinin out there will be assailing the reaper on their own.

He was also going to ask the technicians for assistance in locating the kalinin – as they... unlike most lifeforms, radiate a pretty strong heat-signature. But that wasn't needed as Karsus' voice crashed into his head from above.

"Sir, I'm seeing some strange activity a fair distance away. A lot of red.. and hurricanes."

_That must be them_, he guessed. "Define 'strange'..." he hollered back up.

Karsus answered promptly, "I think I've seen something like this at a bowling alley, sir. Five people blasting through a horde of husks like they're nothing."

"Good. Get them to come here!"

"How? Too many enemies to approach."

"Use the light on top of the tower for crying out loud. Let's see if they can understand Morse code." Victus swore to himself. For all his sharpness, Krasus certainly did have his daft moments. That said as he directed his attention back to the rest of his soldiers, he could see flashes of light from the periphery of his vision.

"Sir!" his second in command – Yarus – approached him, sporting several scorches on both scale and armor from enemy incendiary rounds, "We've got another wave incoming, according to our sentries. A few hundred units at least."

"...So it comes down to this, huh?"

The flashes stopped within the next few seconds, accompanied by a shout from above, "It worked! They're coming!"

That's a relief at least. Clapping his second in command's shoulder as he went to retrieve his rifle. "Tell everyone to fall back to secondary defensive position-"

"Brutes incoming!" another soldier cried out from on top of the outer wall just as one of the machines punctuated that exclamation with its appearance.

"-and quick." Victus finished his sentence after seeing the poor soldier killed by the synthetic abomination.

Yarus nodded and ran back to execute the orders immediately.

He was about to call out for Karsus to get down and assist when the tower was hit, and crumpled like a straw caught on fire. Of his scout, there was no sign.

Ahead, as the General made his way down the closest slope, and into one of the bunkers along the secondary line, all of those that remained of his soldiers fell back. Except a few that were too distant to easily inform of the fallback, and subsequently cut off by surging enemy forces. Victus swore at at the state of their communications right now. If so, less of his men would suffer such terrible deaths. Alone in an ocean of hostile claws and teeth. Not averting his eyes even for a second as Cannibals overran the cut-off soldiers' position from nearly all sides.

The space around him was much more crowded now as the much less spacious secondary line was filled with soldiers. Many ushered themselves into his bunker, prepared to make sure the enemy pay dearly. This time, Victus joined them fully. With faulty communications, his position at the command post was just a waste of time better spent to fight alongside his men.

Ahead, barricades were torn down as hordes of husks made their way through every entrance, others scaling the walls. The General clenched his jaws and took aim, as did all of those around him; "Fight.." he shouted, ".. all as one will, for Palaven!"

That was the only order necessary, as everyone with a gun or turret opened fire in unison. Several lines of husks collapsing as they were hammered by the turian response to their intrusion. Lightning lancing across the perimeter as further enemies fell apart from the heavy resistance they faced, yet none of the losses even fazed them. Both Cannibals and Marauders – fellow turians subverted by the reapers, launched retaliations of their own, and several of the defending soldiers took hits and fell.

Bullets whined past his head, but he ignored the nuisance. What did not hit, wasn't worth his time. Instead, he maintained a steady stream of fire. Knocking a marauder down – planting a few additional shots for good measure, before he shifted his aim to a nearby cannibal.

He did not know how much time went by as he continued to kill the enemy one by one. The General's mind was in a little bit of a daze until the area outside his outpost was hit by a enormous explosion. The fires washed through the entrances and over the outer perimeter walls, incinerating scores of enemies in a blink of an eye.

Victus' mind raced for an answer to this sudden occurrence: Was a reaper attacking them? No. No matter how expendable these husks may be, there's no way they would commit to a strike that would only result in the destruction of their own minions.

But this confusion broke apart as realization shone through._ They're here!_

The explosion lessened in its ferocity, and subsided.. making way for another surprise as hundreds of shadows appeared from the wall of flame.. and nearly all of them looked exactly the same. Hundreds of human-looking boys dressed in OCA landed on the ground across the area, from the outer wall and all the way to the inner bunkers, instantly assailing the husks across the area with both fists and guns. It was good then that the General's men had stopped firing during this. An old-fashioned all-out battle breaking out as nearly a thousand boys and husks engaged one another at near point blank range. And to Victus' surprise, many of the boys who were struck or shot simply vanished in poofs of smoke, as if they never really existed in the first place. Yet they did pack some very real power as many husks were taken down in various ways. Shot, beaten or simply torn asunder.

More followed the horde in, and these are different. A raved-haired boy along with a trio of girls. One of the later, wielding what appeared to be a huge fan kicked up a monstrous wind that swept across the enemy lines, slicing them apart like blades through butter. A blue-haired girl landed on the back of one of the brutes dotting the area.. and with a open-palmed strike, sliced its head clean off, before leaping to the next.. repeating the same process until she was thrown off by the fourth one, yet she managed to recollect herself and fought through a few marauders trying to swarm her with the same open-palmed thrusts – in a couple of cases even ejecting _organs_ from their synthetic shells with terrifying pin-point strikes. Another one – a brunette – fielded a horde of guns that appeared to float in thin air, dozens of rifles and shotguns tearing through the cannibals attempting the flank the group. They tried to shoot the girl herself, but she had already dropped into cover, using something as old-fashioned as a periscope, to see where she's shooting. And the last one, a raven-haired boy who only seemed to make a few faint gestures with his hands while lowering himself onto one knee.

That is, until Victus noticed the hundreds of shadowy tendrils stretching along the area along the ground, connecting with the shadows of most of the remaining cannibals in the area. The kid made a gesture, reaching for something on his body... which the synthetics echoed perfectly. It took the general a moment to understand.. the boy was controlling their movements, reaching for the grenades the things carried along, armed, and simply dropped them to the ground. Dozens of detonations blasting holes in the remains of the horde as all the targeted cannibals were blown to pieces along with every husk close enough.

And only one hectic minute later, the entire enemy wave had been reduced to an ocean of scrap, carpeting the ground across the entire perimeter.

General Victus, a veteran of many battles, was stunned by what he had just witnessed. In the distance, just five teenagers stood – with only one of the blonde boys remaining, probably the real one – waiting for the defenders to make the first move. He sported a nervous grin as he regarded them, "With their power, we might just do this. Yarus, rally the men and have the wounded tended to. I will go and meet with them."

"I beg your pardon, sir." his second in command spoke up cautiously, "We should take proper precaution before..."

"They're on our side, Yarus." Victus told him sternly as he moved to exit the bunker. "You got your orders, now go."

"Y-yes sir."

* * *

In truth most of the group was about to leave, thinking there's no need to linger here any further. Only Shikamaru seemed to have second thoughts, as he – to the perplexity of the others found a rock and sat right down on it.

"What are you doing?" Temari asked with a low snort, "We don't have time for breaks."

"Shut up." Shikamaru replied calmly, "I doubt they shone a light directly at us just for the sake of this. Think about it, how many on this moon know we're here?"

"Shepard and the others.." Temari wrinkled her brows.

"Exactly. Even if their command staff knew we were coming, they wouldn't exactly be running around to let everyone know." The raven-haired boy put his most authoritative expression on – which wasn't all that different from his regular frown – as a lone turian appeared from the inner defensive line. "Let's at least hear what they've got to say."

The lone approaching turian appeared to be the one in command here. Or the representative if no one's left of the local staff. Regardless, the moment he stepped within earshot, Shikamaru asked the first question that came to mind.

"You're the one who called for us?"

"Yes. I am General Victus." the turian replied, drawing himself to his full height. "I received information that you were coming this way, and was asked to make contact."

"Shikamaru Nara." the boy presented himself properly, sans rank. "Since you were asked, does it mean you got something in mind for us?"

"That is quite correct." the General responded succinctly, "My force was tasked with the attempted take-down of that same reaper you're targeting. But the shuttle that carried the targeting laser we needed – sent in by command - was shot down on the way here."

"Targeting laser?"

"We use it for long-range precision bombing. We got a dreadnought waiting for targeting data, but without the device, we aren't remotely capable of supplying it. Since then we've been stuck here."

Shikamaru placed his hands against his knees and stood up tiredly, "So basically, you want us to retrieve it?"

"To retrieve and deploy it. If the strike doesn't kill the reaper, it will at least soften it up for you to finish it off."

"Hmm... We were supposed to try and see if we can take down one of them by ourselves." the boy appeared to be thinking rather loudly. It wasn't directed at his comrades, nor the General addressing him. His gaze then focused on Victus' "But conventional wisdom states we shouldn't refuse such help."

"Good." Victus plucked a PDA from his belt and transferred data from his omni-tool into it, "Here, take this. It contains the coordinates to the crash site where the laser marker's located." before handing it over to the boy, who accepted it with some rather sloppily-applied grace.

Shikamaru looked the data over. And conveniently enough, the crash site's in the direction of the reaper. "Okay, looks good. Is there anything else?"

"We got less than two hours left until the deadline, so it must be accomplished quickly. For that reason, I will marshal what's left of my troops to back you up."

"Less than two hours?!" Temari repeated in disbelief.

"You sure?!" Shikamaru asked, ignoring the suna-nin's outburst. "I beg your pardon, but we'll accomplish this much faster by ourselves."

"The area around the reaper are swarming with husks. You're going to need all the guns you can get."

The boy grimaced as he rapidly thought of how to go about this. Deciding on a compromise, and hope it discourages him. If not, then it is out of his own hands; "Okay, if you want to follow us, be my guest. But we won't wait for you to get ready. We'll move on ahead, and you guys try to catch up, got it?" standing up with a sense of finality.

The general frowned as he briefly considered it, "Fine. Go ahead. If anything gets problematic, wait for us to catch up."

"Alright." that was not exactly what Shikamaru wanted to hear, but there's too little time to debate on this any further. So all he did was give a nod to his comrades, after which they all left.. so swiftly that it was as though they simply vanished.

* * *

Victus was left staring at the empty ground where the kids previously stood before hurrying back to the others, wading through the sea of broken husks on the way. Fortunately, he found Yarus standing there waiting for his return. "Sir, what's the plan?" turning to walk alongside his superior officer as they went to rejoin the rest.

"This time, our job's to provide backup, using the kalinin as a spearhead and clear away what slips through the cracks. But before we move out, hide the dread and wounded."

Yarus nodded approvingly. They needed to make sure the reapers won't be using their soldiers to create more husks. It hasn't been long since the war started, and everyone thought of huskification as a fate worse than death. "Good call, sir. But going out there will be risky with so few soldiers left."

"It's all for Palaven's sake, Yarus."

"I understand. We all do."

Victus slowed down his pace, "Now.. tell me you saw what that kid did, with all those..." he started to ask, snapping his fingers repeatedly as he searched for the proper word.

"Clones, weapons?" Yarus tried, his mandibles twitching.

The general nodded in appreciation. The word seemed to hit the mark perfectly, "Clones, that's right. Can the OCA do it?"

"Haven't looked it over thoroughly, sir."

"Do you realize how helpful such a technique could be to the war effort? Imagine a thousand of our soldiers creating ten thousand clones that can be used without risking any of those thousand lives in the process? Take hits, set up diversions, ambushes, triggering enemy ambushes or simply to overwhelm an enemy position through sheer number without even once risking the lives of those that called them forth. Imagine that?"

"Spirits. That would change the face of the entire ground war." Yarus whispered, his interest flared up as he thought about what his general just explained.

"And just our luck..." Victus lamented, "Because of broken equipment, we can't bring this information to the primarch."

"Just saying this, sir." Yarus replied with a grin, "With such a mind, you'd make a great primarch."

"I'm a soldier, Yarus. Not a political animal." the general shook his head with amusement as they arrived, looking over the meager two hundred that remained of his troops at this location, "Besides, what in the world are the odds of _me _ever becoming the primarch? Hah, that'll be the day."

* * *

Author notes: Was stuck on that last part of a while. Wanted a rather humorous moment, but this'll have to suffice.

As for answers to reviews:

Legionary Prime: Killer Bee was kind of shot to pieces at one point during the war with the Geth. Jiraiya, he won't come back to life for the same reasons Kabuto could not make a Edo tensei zombie out of him in the manga. As for Tsunade, I'm trying to spread it out a little bit, already got a lot of people from konoha. Gaara's in the story, just not quite up and at 'em yet. And Sasuke? Not sure yet.


	52. Chapter 52

**Chapter 52**

* * *

The battle of Menae continued as the air was split – once again – by the thunder of heavy weaponry in the far distance. But far away from any outpost and fortresses, one somber sight rested amidst all this desolation. A crashed shuttle lying with its nose buried in the sand, and the interior thrown across the area by the impact. What remained of its passengers lied mangled, strewn about. Only one of the corpses sat upright, clutching a wound on his side as he – as the only survivor of the crash – possibly tried to call for assistance, only to realize that he's alone in a sea of horrors. His eyes lifelessly staring at the skies above – in the direction of the world from which the turian race came.

There was one movement though, a lone husk clawed itself out of a nearby crag and raised its malformed head, announcing its presence with a growl. A sound that was quickly cut off when its vision was subsequently filled with a pair of armored boots as someone came down at it from above and smashed it unceremoniously into the ground.

Naruto huffed as he looked over the wreckage and made sure to stomp the ruined husk again for good measure before venturing closer to inspect the crashed shuttle – just as the others arrived.

"I told you.." Shikamaru sighed, annoyed... ".. to not race on ahead of us."

"Thought I saw a survivor." the blonde replied solemnly as he looked over the nearby corpse.

"He has been trapped for this long behind enemy lines. His deaths and that of his comrades were a foregone conclusion from the start." Shikamaru told him gravely as he knelt down next to the body and closed its eyes with a single wave of his hand. There was nothing in turian culture that spoke up against doing just that. If it had been a batarian on the other hand, it'd be regarded as a huge insult. Having done that, he stood up and clapped his hands; "Tenten, you're with me. The rest of you fan out and keep the area secure."

Temari frowned before she vanished from view with a burst of smoke and dust without a word. Hinata went over to Naruto and placed a hand on his shoulder. The two of them heading out in turn immediately after.

That done, the Nara approached the side of the shuttle and inspected the hanging door on the side. But the girl did not seem to care about that and squeezed herself into the wreck to search the interior. The boy following suit.

The interior was a complete mess. Hopefully the important item on board had been properly secured.

"Here..." Tenten exclaimed, uncovering a large and flat metal box with quadruple locks located in each corner. And both fortunately and unfortunately, it's very well armored.

"Looks like this could be it." Shikamaru said, analyzing it. "But looks like we need a key." his eyes drifting to a nearby corpse which was trapped underneath a part of the collapsed wall. Only its arm visible.

And Tenten was already investigating it. Plucking the arm up and balling its hand into a fist to see if the omni-tool's on it, which proved to be the case as the interface popped into place. Encouraged by this success, she analyzed its data, and exclaimed a loud; "Here it is.." with triumph a minute later. One more press, and the locks across the box were all released as one. She turned to the box as it opened with clear expectation of what's inside.

They found themselves looking over the strange gun-like device resting in the crate's cushioned interior. "Okay, I'm guessing this thing's it. Tenten, you take it." he said while climbing back out of the shuttle.

"Don't mind if I do." the girl grinned nearly from ear to ear as she hefted the weapon and sealed it into one of her scrolls. She was already looking forward to the artillery this would lead to.

"Everyone, assemble!" the Nara shouted, "We got thirty-seven minutes until the deadline, let's make it a quick one!" his eyes landing on the massive figure of the reaper looming over them like a disfigured mountain. Up ahead in the distance, more husks climbed into view, and charged towards the shuttle. It only took a moment before Temari appeared, shooting one of the creatures in the head from point blank range, and then used her fan to blow away half the group. But unfazed by the losses, a few continued on their run towards the Nara as he brought up his gun and shot the closest one down on the spot, "...This kind of attention is such a drag."

* * *

Shepard stood at the edge of the base, close to where the local turian forces keep their fighters. Personnel going back and forth to prep the crafts while the pilots hurried to man them, having just received another close combat support mission. He and his team however was waiting for Cortez, the shuttle in the distance closing in with all manageable speed.

"General Victus.. Primarch Victus..." Garrus commented with a chuckle.. though it did sound a bit hollow, "So this is that kind of day, huh?"

"What can you tell me about him?"

"Adrien Victus, he's a veteran who fought during the way you humans call the '_first contact war_'. He's a good leader, and popular with his men. But the Hierarchy overall doesn't like him very much."

"Oh? Why is that?"

"He's rather unorthodox, you see."

"What's your opinion of him?"

"Personally, I think he's the best choice for a primarch in a time like this. But trust me, he won't like getting stuck with a desk job." Garrus whispered the last part, a finger scratching against his left mandible. "Except.. it's been a while since the last time we heard form him. We don't know if he's still alive... or dead."

"There's a small chance that their communications' just malfunctioning. We'll head out and check the bases he's in charge of. Luckily, they are all located along the route the kalinin are taking. With any luck, he and his men might still be out there fighting."

"Spirits, I hope so." the team taking a step back as the shuttle set down in front of them before climbing on board, "Too many of the command staff have died already. No matter how well suited, the fact that the command staff has chosen Victus as the next primarch tells me how short-handed they are. It's a bad sign."

Shepard nodded gravely as he headed over to where Cortez sat, "Head to these coordinates. And make sure to keep it low and make it fast."

"Roger that, commander." the pilot replied as the door slid shut, followed by the shuttle lifting up and building speed. "Heading there now."

"Make sure to keep an eye out. We got no information of the state of things out there."

"Two eyes, when I can spare them."

"What is it? You're looking rather glum." Ashley asked the prothean, who had lowered his head – peering at the floor.

Javik did not answer immediately, twiddling his thumbs while thinking hard, "None of your concern. I am merely reflecting on what we thought would happen in this cycle, only to be shown how wrong we were."

"And that is bad?" Ashley was somewhat puzzled, "Hey, it's not like we can look into the future and know what's going to happen."

"The patience, the wisdom.. and yet.. Can't help but be disappointed."

"What was that?"

"Nothing." reacting with a small twitch when a pair of bullets hit the shuttle's armor.

"Status report." Shepard requested from the pilot.

But Cortez merely shrugged, "Just some husk taking potshots at us, sir. No damage taken."

"We'll be fine unless they bring out their big guns." Garrus said, "Most husks don't have the firepower to take on heavily armored targets such as this. All they can do is chip the shuttle's paint job."

"That ain't no laughing matter, man." Cortez shook his head, "Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get new paint nowadays?" eliciting a few late coughs and chuckles from the others as they continued to converse for the next few minutes until Cortez finally saw something in the difference other than the barren landscape, "We're coming up on a base.. Lots of bodies, but no sign of the defenders."

Shepard thought about it for a second as he turned back to the pilot, "They're either dead, or have relocated at another base... Still, we'd better investigate before moving on."

"Aye sir, setting down." Cortez replied promptly. And quickly lowered the shuttle towards the area just past the planet's outer line. Soft crunching noises could be heard throughout the shuttle as it set down, landing on top of one of many large pile of bodies.

Shepard and his team searched the camp for any clue of its defenders. There were no turian bodies to be found, the thought of them taken away by the reapers for huskification's not a pleasant one.

They eventually ended up in the far inner corner of the outpost, at the base of the tall cliff it had bee positioned against; when they found a slightly wounded soldier who was partially hidden behind a large rock that blocked what looked like a tunnel.

"Are you... the backup?" the soldier asked cautiously. "Didn't think you'd come..."

"You the only one here?"

"No. We received the order to hide our dead and wounded here, and then wait for help to come. Not that there's much hope for that.. our communications' gear are broken."

"Where are the rest?"

The soldier coughed, "General Victus headed out with the rest to provide the kalinin with some backup."

"What? He's out there?" Garrus asked, deeply perplexed. "That's insane.."

"What choice do you think we had? Stay here and die uselessly, or head out there and complete the objectives we came here to do?"

Garrus found that he had no real answer to that. With communications down, they had alarmingly few options available – which ultimately boiled down to those two.

Shepard did not need to ask where Victus went, all he needed to do was turn and look to the reaper in the far distance. "Keep holding this location, we'll forward your position and current condition to General Corinthus."

"Thank you. With any luck, those bastards won't find us.." the soldier replied before he turned and left for the depths of the cave.

The commander turned to his comrades; "We on the other hand, will head straight to where the trouble is."

"Like we usually do." Garrus chuckled as they all headed back to the shuttle, "Just like old times."

* * *

Shikamaru finished scaling the tall cliff that was the only obstacle left between them and the reaper looming over the landscape. He and the others ran across the mountain until they came to overlook a valley that stretched into the far distance, and covered with scars of heavy battle. Dominating the battlefield was the reaper itself, a two-kilometers long squid-shaped dreadnought. The Nara could barely tear his eyes away from the intimidated sight. Below, many thousands of husks of various types marched chaotically.

Seeing all of this also confirmed what the reaper had been firing at all along during the approach. It and its troops were busy with a large but battered ground-based armored division. Wrecks of tanks and other vehicles carpeting the ground amidst the reaper swarm and the areas behind them. They had been fighting while steadily retreating to keep their enemies from closing in. However, each beam fired by the reaper tore through the formation, each time destroying either one or several vehicles on the spot. Shikamaru tried to scan the battlefield over, but the distance was so great he ended up turning to Hinata – to rely on her vastly superior ocular capabilities.

"Hinata, scan the battlefield and tell us what we can't see from here. Details about the enemy, the armored battalion.. and if this battle was randomly executed or not."

The girl nodded and activated her byakugan, "Hrm, the enemy got some new units. I'm seeing double-turreted armored vehicles."

"Armored vehicles?" the Nara echoed, "Tanks?"

"Seems like it. Turian forces consist largely of tanks and... um, mobile artillery. From the looks of it, it is a delaying action. They're probably trying to slow the reaper down."

"Slow them down?" he mulled the information over, "They're barely in position to slow down anything... Or, maybe they're waiting for the first support General Victus was supposed to call for." and glanced over his shoulder, "Tenten, prep the laser and see if we're close enough."

"Got it." the brunette replied with relish as she climbed to the highest position on the cliff and planted the targeting device on the ground, after releasing it from the scroll.

"Also..." Hinata said, "I'm seeing signs of a major base some distance behind the armored battalion, I'm guessing about thirty kilometers. The reaper further into the distance over yonder is also heading for it."

Shikamaru glanced in the direction of the other reaper in sight. He had begun to wonder why the two of them seemed to be converging on a single point.. "It's a pincer attack."

The targeting laser hummed with power as Tenten activated it, using the omni-tool she took from the dead turian back at the crashed shuttle. "Okay. It's on."

"Try not to aim it at anything that might resemble optics.."

"Alright.." she rolled her eyes while adjusting the aim, tapping at the tool.. "Anywhere except in-between the eyes – got it."

"Are we close enough?"

"I think so."

"Then fire it up, let's see if we can get a response." he looked at the time and then towards the horizon as palaven got set to vanish into it, "Only ten minutes left. Let's cross our fingers."

"Crossing both my fingers and toes." Naruto said and actually proceeded to do just that, much to the others' amusement.

"Yeah, keep doing that." Temari shrugged, trying desperately to look indifferent.

The brunette got down and performed the finishing touches before pulling the device's trigger. The four-pronged segments at its front splitting apart to project a ruby-red needle-thin beam of energy at the reaper. "Contact."

* * *

Above the battlegrounds of Menae, a series of events quickly took place. One of the moon's very few remaining satellites detected the flareup caused by the ground-based laser designator, and transmitted the coordinates to the Seeker of Justice.

Admiral Aknus checked his antique watch as he painstakingly waited for Victus' troops to paint the reaper in their sector. But with only nine minutes left... it looked like the General had failed. Most likely dead along with the troops he was put in charge of.

He stood up from his seat and looked over his bridge crew as he was about to call out the order for the current mission to end so this fleet could leave the position to join the battle proper. His dreadnought had been holding position all day, providing the ground forces on Menae with almost incessant extreme-range fire support. Fourteen regiments had successfully painted their targets, while thirty others failed... thirty-one with Victus' failure. It wasn't looking good at all.

If anything, he's always eager to put his dreadnought's heavy guns to good use. It had been constructed while taking a page from old human wars – specifically the seagoing battleships during their world war two. Though his mighty ship was shaped like a bird of prey, it sported three heavy gun-turrets, each which featured two cruiser-scale mass-accelerator cannons to complement the dreadnought's more standard-issue main cannon. Two positioned on the ship's wings while the third one was positioned in the back under the tail.

With these armaments, Seeker of Justice could dish out an enormous amount of punishment. More so than most other dreadnoughts. Although, it's badly outmatched by any dreadnought-type Reaper in terms of raw power.

Aknus sighed, and moved to raise his hand.

"Sir!" his communications' officer cried out, "We're receiving target coordinates."

That could only be Victus. "How much time left?"

"Eight minutes, sir. I'm not sure if our shots will get there in time."

"Forward the coordinates to gunnery officer." the admiral bellowed as he sat down, not even bothering to use the ship's intercom, his strong voice traveled throughout the bridge just fine without it, "Prepare a firing solution and transmit it to our escorting fleet. I want every single gun of the fleet aimed at that reaper, every gun to clear the way for our main cannon. I don't care if there's a hundred mountains between us and the reaper when the barrage arrives, I want them all flattened by the time our heavy round gets there! Get it done, double time!"

The entire bridge crew burst into activity as the firing solution was prepared and transmitted across the fleet attached to the Seeker of Justice. It only took a moment for the first cruisers to stop their patrols and turn to a heading parallel to the Dreadnought, including the Plight of Law and Pious Journey. The rest turning to join in, one after another until the escorting fleet had joined up with the dreadnought, forming a somewhat scattered wall formation around it..

In any front-line battle, such a formation would be close to suicidal – with little room for maneuvering – and risk of collisions, considering that they're all pointing their noses at the same target. But in this case however...

His communications officer turned in his chair and reported, "Sir, all ships have reported target-lock and ready to fire. Also, we only have five more minutes."

"Let's make it a quick one then. Open a channel." Aknus told him, and rose up to address the fleet. Regarding the view in front of him with great severity, as if he could see the reaper he aimed for on the distant moon's surface; "All ships, commence firing!"

It was a gratifying sight. All of the escorting cruisers opened fire in perfect unison. Over two dozen mass accelerator rounds streaking through the void towards the target they all shared. Feeling tiny thuds reverberating through his dreadnought as as two of its three turrets opened fire as well.

The fleet spat forth two additional barrages identical to the first one with five second intervals before every gun stopped firing.

"Main cannon is hot, removing safeties!" gunnery officer shouted.

Admiral Aknus narrowed his eyes, "Fire!" feeling the slight gratification that came whenever the main cannon discharged a heavy round at the target unlucky enough to be on the business end of it, sending a slight shudder through the Seeker of Justice in the process despite its strong mass effect fields. Watching the discharged round chase after the swarm of bullets that had been sent in ahead of it.

With that, this mission was finally over and he could finally lease his fleet for the front-lines.

For the troops still fighting on the moon, he could not only offer a quiet salute and wish them good fortune.

* * *

"Come on... come on... What are those guys up there waiting for?" Naruto was becoming more and more frustrated as he stared impatiently into the distance beyond the reaper filling much of the view as it continued to slaughter the turian troops alongside the the army marching underneath it. Watching Palaven slowly descend into the horizon.

Temari shook her head, more exasperated by the boy's itching to move in, "There's always travel time involved when it comes to projectiles." she growled at him, "How far away is that dreadnought anyway?"

"W-what if..." Hinata stuttered in a hushed tone, "What if it's been destroyed... and the fire support won't come?"

"Better hope that's not the case."

Shikamaru shook his head, "I don't know. It may already be en route for all we know." and shortly released a resigned sigh, "Two minutes left until the deadline. Let's give them three more, if it doesn't come within that time, we move in. Got it?"

The blonde chew muttered some and sat down.

"Don't complain." Temari groaned... annoyed by the boy's grunting, "You honestly want to be in the thick of it over there just as the strike hits? Don't be an idiot."

Naruto was about to snap a reply when a mountain to the reaper's left suddenly exploded – sending hundreds of tons of dirt and dust up into the air, and across the surface like an avalanche. It was eerily silent, but with the faintest knowledge of how things worked...

"There she blows!" Tenten cried out, "Cover yours ears and get down!"

They all did so and threw themselves to the ground just before the pressure wave and sonic boom washed over their location. The ground shaking so violently made it particularly jarring. And it was followed by even more devastation as a barrage of projectiles arrived, traveling almost parallel to the ground, through where that mountain used to be and struck the reaper in full force – though several were clean misses.

Shikamaru managed to sneak an eye open to watch while this went on, and guessed that it must be hard to aim ahead of a target so far away that the projectiles need minutes to get there and hit the target.. and that's without counting several other factors, such as gravity and enemy unpredictable enemy movements.

But he could not complain about the results. The dreadnought were hit by most of them, each sending shock waves to the ground – so powerful that ground troops underneath the impact area were smashed to pieces by the resulting pressure waves. But the last one was particularly gratifying as it struck the target admidship with enough force to throw it off-balance.

"Oh no.." Hinata whispered close by, as the allied armored force down there also took serious damage from the sequence of strikes. Though how much, the Nara stood no chance of seeing as they were obscured by onrushing wave of dust remaining from the prior avalanche. But the only thing important right now is the opening the strike just gave them.

"Now, while it's still catching itself. Get your cloaks on and fire!"

The Jinchuriki both threw a glance at him. "Roger that!" Naruto shouted as his body was surrounded by a rapidly emerging demon cloak, going all the way to stage two; with seven tails – on the cusp of advancing to eight.

Hinata almost howled in a hushed tone as she too entered stage two. All three tails swishing through the air like a trio of whips.

Both of them split globules of chakra from their cloaks and gathered it all into the space between their jaws, compressed the resulting orbs of tightly packed energy and discharged them like a pair of artillery cannons.

The launched bijudamas glowed like a pair of miniature suns as they both converged on the towering monstrosity, which jerked as it detected the incoming attack and moved to evade from its disadvantageous position. The orbs passed through what was left of its kinetic barrier without incident and detonated against its thick hull. The twin explosions spread across the hull, blew through dozens of bizarre mind-wrecking decks filled with husks and indoctrinated slaves – followed quickly by dozens of smaller secondary detonations as the combined attack nearly split the reaper in half.

But it still held on, though it emerged from the smoke with two giant craters in its hull. Bits of its superstructure clearly visible with crowds of monstrous husks filling the wound like oversized bacteria. It was unsettling to watch, to put it mildly. Yet the reaper still remained operational, turning to regard its distant foes for a moment, before doing something that they did not expect of it.

The entire valley started to tremble as enormous amount of dust was kicked up from the ground underneath it. Peculiar red lightning lashing across its form and at the ground below, melting sand into glass in an instant with each strike. A metallic scream came from its hull, and kept growing in pitch and volume until it eventually darkened when the reaper began to ascend.

"It's retreating...?" Shikamaru asked breathlessly as he stood to peer up at it, having been thrown to the ground by the tremor this takeoff had caused.

But instead of leaving entirely, it simply retreated to around five thousand meters above ground and then halted, and maintained its current altitude. The tentacles spreading to reveal a large intensely red-glowing disc.

"Oh cra-" the Nara gasped. The machine did this to force a gap that its ground-bound enemies can't close, and then use its main cannon.

"Hurry." a voice boomed behind him as Hinata – having advanced all the way to stage three – now towered above the rest of the group in the form of the Sanbi, "Get under me before it fires!" lifting the form's heavy bulk to indicate the area directly underneath it.

That pretty much meant that Hinata intended to take the majority of the coming blow to protect her more vulnerable comrades. Shikamaru wanted to protest, but realized there was no other option available.. so he along with the other girls hurried under the armored shell of the turtle. Hinata curling its tails around them to act as walls. "Naruto?" she asked.

The blonde looked back up at her, "Keep them safe." as the eighth tail appear, causing his cloak to explode outward until it had reshaped itself into a life-sized version of the fox sealed within the boy, looking the same other than the absence of hide, fur and the ninth tail. "I'll do whatever it takes to bring that thing down."

* * *

The battle-scarred world was covered by silence as the black squid hanged there far above ground like a judge. Peering down at a surface covered by ever-decreasing numbers of pitiful organics. But its main focus of attention was the two giant beasts standing over a field littered with bodies of the dead.

More of its targets were still there, under the turtle's aegis. While the other one stood there, glaring up at the reaper with lidless raging eyes.

The Reaper continued to charge its main weapon, built for major fleet engagements and planetary bombardment. A weapon that scour life away without exception. The disc from which it fired was filled up with lethal energies until it could not go any further and discharged it all at once at the ground far below it like a spear, a force capable of wiping out a city. Blinding light obscuring the surface for what looked like kilometers in every direction the moment the attack landed. The monster coldly confident that they would not be able to withstand such power.

Yet the foes remained as the destruction finished.. dust and light clearing to reveal the turtle, greatly damaged yet staring back up at it stubbornly with its singular eye. The other monster had also taken damage, but between its jaws.. a power of retribution came into being in the form of an orb of incredible density and power. The beast threw its head back, as if to howl at the reaper above, to declare that they would not be judged by the likes of it.

The orb in its jaw expanded, and bulged in the dreadnought's general direction, and was let loose. Not as a single projectile.. but as a single colossal beam racing into the sky.

It seemed, that the judge would soon face its own judgment.

* * *

Victus lost heart when he saw the reaper lift off and bombard the region below it. Believing the kalinin dead, and weighed down by the knowledge that the fire support was probably ineffectual, and that he had sent the youngsters on a fools errand.

His troops were bogged down at an intersection of crags by what looked like a battalion of husks. Mostly Cannibals. Everyone fought for every piece of cover they could attain while answering the incessant incoming fire with their own. It was pure chaos, and it took all of his efforts to make sure they stick together. Lifting a pistol to gun to put down a cannibal that surfaced nearby – sending it screaming back into its hole with a bullet planted firmly into the head, right between its four eyes – as he made his way to the next piece of cover before Yarus came to him, with a wound in his shoulder. "Sir, we're surrounded."

The general frowned, letting out a heartfelt expletive. "Did I do the right thing, Yarus?"

"You did what you thought were the right decisions." his subordinate almost mumbled.

"Were they?"

"To be honest.. We'd be dead either way at this point. Slaughtered to the last back at the base, or the same here... makes little difference."

"Hrm.. then let's give this our all. It's been an honor to fight alongside you."

"The honor's ours, sir."

Victus was about to go about shouting what would perhaps be his final orders when a strange light tickled his eyes from the side, pulling his gaze to the place where he fought everyone had just died.. watching as a red-hot beam emerged in the far distance, illuminating the surrounding landscape with a gentle glow as it was hurled into the sky, heading straight for the reaper far above.

If the former attack was a spear, then this was like a pillar.

His mouth fell open as the light struck, passed through the dreadnought.. gutting it from stem to stern as its armor seethed and boiled away. For the faintest moment it looked as though the reaper had been impaled, before it finally gave in.. falling apart as explosions ripped through its interior.

Shortly, the beam vanished. And what was left of the reaper fell. Breaking in half mid-fall while its tentacles were scattered all over. The machine soon vanished from of sight.. a thunderous tremor announcing that its corpse had crashed.

Victus breathlessly thanked the spirits, for letting him live long enough to witness such a sight. "Now... I got no regrets."

"Likewise, general." Yarus grinned. Just as the cannibals intensified their attacks against the turians' diminishing position. Only to start falling apart as help suddenly arrived from above. The officer looked up to see a shuttle flying around above them, firing with a trio of mass-accelerator guns mounted on it – raining fire on the husks' positions, destroying many in the process. Not one bullet were a wasted one. "An alliance shuttle?!"

"It would seem..." the general breathed, "...today is a day of many wonders." watching as the shuttle slowly came in for landing. With what looked like a human female sitting behind the turret pointing out of the open hatch. A fellow turian, a strange four-eyed alien and a human emerged from the craft and headed straight for his position while the turret continued to shower enemy positions.

"General Victus, I presume?"

"Yes, that's me." Victus replied, narrowing his eyes at the human.. "You're Shepard, aren't you?"

The commander nodded, "I've come to take you away from here.."

"For what reason?" that is, besides obviously being in the need of relocating his troops to a place with communication gear that actually works.

"You've been.. promoted, and are needed elsewhere..." Garrus coughed, "You're the new Primarch, Victus."

It would seem that.. perhaps for the first time of his life – he was at a complete loss for words. All he could do... was let his jaw drop in a comical fashion out of sheer disbelief, "...Eh?"

* * *

Author note: Been very busy lately, so it's been hard to find time to write.


	53. Chapter 53

**Chapter 53**

* * *

Melancholy was hanging in the air over the place deep within her psyche. Hinata walked almost tip-toed through the darkness, alone on of the massive metal bars that makes up the Sanbi's prison door that in essence also served as the place's floor, an ocean of chakra barely reaching up past it. With the Sanbi itself lurching in its darkest depths. Rarely coming out, except when she occasionally slip and fall. She always lost control of herself when that happened.

A lot of her initial training as a Jinchuriki was to maintain a certain balance in her mind precisely to prevent that from happening. Only one place did not share the fleeting foothold of the rest; the area around the seal itself.

Feeling uneasy, she approached it.. but instead of finding a place to sit, she found a creature sitting there, as solid as it was ghostly – looking into the ocean below.

"Leave this place..." Hinata said, recognizing the thing in an instant as the Maker still residing inside of her.

If it at all acknowledged her presence, it was with a shrug, and a thin hush of wonder. Like someone hovering over a math problem written on the ground, trying to make sense of it. "Ever wonder what is down there?"

"The Sanbi is there. But you're not supposed to be here.." the girl stated simply, steely of voice and tone. The memories of what happened not too long ago still so painfully clear.

"There is something more.. than that.. down there."

Hinata closed her eyes and shivered. The vagueness of its speech greatly vexed every fiber of her being. She was about to get close to and kick it off the platform if at all possible, when a stabbing pain caused the environment to fade away.

She opened her eyes with a start, expecting to see the starry skies from the surface of Menea.. with what remained of the reaper looming over her and the others. But instead, she recognized the familiar ceiling of the Normandy's medical bay.

"Oh goodness, did the anesthetics run out already?" she heard Doctor Chakwas quack, and came to hover over the bedridden girl.

Hinata grit her teeth, and raised a hand.. already pulsing with a soothing green light as she placed it against her side, where the pain – that woke her up – was coming from.

"You needn't do that." the doctor spoke up in faint disapproval – though she did not intervene, "You should just rest."

"Don't bother.." Shikamaru's voice could be heard muttering from the other side of the room, "It's a drag, but we don't have time to dally here.. Feeling okay there, Hinata?"

"Um..can't remember much from what happened."

"No wonder." the boy coughed as the girl looked at the neighboring bed, at Naruto who's very much asleep. With no sign of injury to her relief, "That reaper nearly crashed on our heads after all."

"Oh..."

"It's a mess. A reaper was destroyed, but it did not feel like we won."

"I'd say that's a momentous achievement." Chakwas said firmly.

"Maybe. But it crashed nearly on top of us.. knocked us all out. Had there been another reaper at the location..." Shikamaru cursed, "We better improve our approach, to prevent stuff like that from happening again."

Hinata groaned softly as she felt the pain decrease, the burn on her side mending.."I think... there's one thing we can... give a try."

"What do you have in mind?"

She managed a little smile, "I b-believe, it's about time we t-take a page out of a certain school of taijutsu. Just, need to search the library back at the ship... to see if there's any information regarding it, else we'll have to improvise."

"Oh?" the boy asked curiously, "And which did you have in mind?"

"It's the-"

Without them knowing, a third one had awakened. But only listened - without a word - until the person in question felt an overwhelming need to get out, "Hey..." Temari interrupted them hoarsely as she forced herself to sit up, trying to get out of bed while hissing barely audible curses.

Hinata did not continue, instead appearing apologetic, "I-I'm sorry, did we wake you up?"

The suna-nin did not reply, and put her feet on the floor. Locating her sandals just a few inches away. Their armor had been taken off, but their regular clothes remained on.

"Now wait a minute." Chakwas was quick to half-shout in disapproval, "You may have suffered the least trauma of all of you..."

"Then there's no problem if I go for a walk..." Temari said. Her tone making it very clear that she held no interest in starting an argument. Investing all of her energy into leaving the room the moment she fully got up from bed. Leaving the doctor with an indignant frown.

"Kalinin.. why do you all have to be such difficult patients? You just jump out of bed and go about doing whatever the hell you want, no matter what." and turned to see Hinata already getting up as she finished mending her own wounds, "... Sometimes, I have no idea why I even bother."

* * *

Temari let her shoulders sag in relief after the door closed shut behind her. "Ugh, I should be stronger than this.." quietly complaining as she looked over the meticulously clean interior of the Normandy with a near-depressed gaze.

She pretty much agreed with Shikamaru in this. All of what happened at the end of it was plain clumsy. Many allied troops died in the process of deploying a largely ineffectual artillery strike.

A shudder ran through her spine – and before she knew it.. had charged into the elevator, as if the enclosed space within offered a measure of safety. Though she quickly began to visualize it as a dead end in one of the many tunnels that were hastily dug during Sunagakure's final hours in order to escape the invaders that had encircled the village so completely. Logically, the best way to avoid an explosion, is to get underground. It did not help them for long though, as columns of one-eyed machines marched in to wipe them out.

Her breathing deepened as the memory felt increasingly real. As if this recent experience was just a dream she willing escaped into during the final few minutes of her life, when she was so utmost lost to her own terror. This nightmare was only brought to its end, when a hand abruptly landed on her shoulder, which she reacted to immediately.. whipping around to attack whatever came upon her while reaching for the fan, which were nowhere in reach – only to come face to face with Garrus, who had quickly pulled back in alarm at the girl's aggressive reaction.

"Hey, it's just me... relax." the turian said with exaggerated slowness.

Temari blinked at him in confusion, and looked around.. No longer in the tunnels, but back in the Normandy. With nothing but the gentle hum coming from beyond the walls – the ship's machinery at work. The girl waiting for a perceived attack that never came before letting the arms drop. "Thought you were... never mind..."

"Sleep-walking?" he asked sincerely, "Haunted by bad memories?"

The girl did not offer an answer, deeply ashamed of letting her emotions take control like this. Which is technically a huge no-no to shinobi in general, but even more so for those of sunagakure. One of their few points of pride when against more powerful villages.

"I see." Garrus answered her silence with some grimness, probably assuming it's the latter. "If it helps take your mind off those things, I'm heading upstairs to see our newly elected primarch. Feel free to tag along if you want."

"... Sure." she consented after putting a bit of thought into it.

"Alright then." the turien went and pressed a button on the side, causing the door to close before the contraption started going up.

It traveled slow, as always.. and soon, Temari could not help but speak up; "If I may ask.. who's this primarch?"

"Victus."

"Him?" she asked in slight surprise, "I believe we met him back on that moon.."

"I know. He thinks quite highly of you.. and was less than happy about becoming the primarch."

"So why did he go along with it?"

Garrus chuckled with barely restrained awe, ".. Shepard can be _really_ persuasive." followed by a shrug, "That, and he doesn't have much of a choice. Primarch Fedorian called for a war summit before he was killed, and it can't be postponed. The war depends on it."

"So fill me in, what happened while we were unconscious?"

"Hmm.." the turian hummed as the door slid open, allowing them to proceed over to the security checkpoint just past the door to the right, "You can pretty much guess what happened. We picked up Victus, and came to pick you up in turn – the lack of explosions following the reaper's fall kind of tipped us off that something had gone wrong – while Victus' men entrenched themselves. After that, we went back and escorted the remnants back to the base we set out from, where they were promptly placed under the command of General Corinthus before we went back to the Normandy." finishing the summary of the most recent series of events while stepping through the scanner within the checkpoint.

The girl however regarded the machine with a little measure of trepidation before stepping through in turn. Her fears confirmed as her entrance caused a localized alarm to be set off as the scanner acknowledged the high heat signatures radiating from her body.

"Stay right there." the closest officer told her, "We need to perform a search before you can proceed."

"Hold it. She's a kalinin." Garrus noted with perfect calm, "This is perfectly normal. Did you not get the memo?"

"I didn't know." the human replied, "But regulations are to be followed."

But much to the relief of the two, EDI entered the discussion; "There's no need for a checkup. The readings are consistent with kalinin physiology. No anomaly detected."

"And there you have it. Thank you, EDI."

"Have a pleasant day." the AI responded before withdrawing, still acting partly like a VI – though it would only be a matter of time before people will start catching on.

The officer relented only with great reluctance, "Okay.. you can go. But we'll be watching you."

Temari could do little but grumble at the scrutiny she got and hurried to leave through the next door ahead.

"Sorry about that, I guess some of the peculiarities of your kind's not common knowledge yet." Garrus apologized on the prior humans behalf as he caught up. They passed through the hall just next to the apparent conference room, with transparent walls for cameras to peer through without disturbing the people talking inside. Empty right now, of course.

Beyond the door ahead, Temari found what just might be the war room... A guess at which she was largely correct. It just happened to give the same general vibe as the council chamber back in Sunagakure she had seen so many times since Gaara became the kazekage. She and Garrus stepped down a small set of stairs to get to the holographic table in the middle. Above it, an image of the galaxy hovered, filled with red dots that most likely displayed the most concurrent war zones, or reported reaper sightings in general. Either way, it looked like things are going badly.

Whichever it was, it only made it all too clear to Temari about the scale of the threat they're facing. The galaxy is so big, yet this war made it look so dangerously small. Like there's a wall cutting them off at every turn. No escape.

Only one seemed to be present, though she could see the vague outlines of a few humans working up in the edges of the room. The person she did see clearly happened to be none other than the newly promoted Primarch Victus, who stood there – reviewing data on his side of the holographic table. Dressed up in formal attire, looking much more like a desk worker now than a general – though an air of authority and respect still hovered around him like an oversized divine halo.

His expression was unreadable, though Temari admitted quietly that she couldn't read turians' expressions at all – but assumed that he is grimacing at whatever he's reading.

"For you to walk around like that so soon after what happened..." Victus said without looking up, "It's a good sign. And good news, I just happen to _need _very badly.."

"What's the state of things out there?" Garrus asked, worried.

The primarch looked up finally, tearing his eyes off the data like it's something repulsive. "The number of casualties are staggering. The situation's worse than I imagined. Our people is fighting and dying out there, and I'm stuck here shuffling papers."

"I understand. But that makes the summit all the more important."

Victus huffed gravely, "I know. But the problem is, I am not Fedorian. There's no information available regarding what he had in mind, on how to get the other council races to pull their collective weight out of their defensive passivity."

"I'm no expert regarding galactic politics..." Temari spoke with some solemnity, "... but you simply must drive the point home that they won't gain anything by staying put and acting like the problem doesn't exist."

"But you have some experience regarding politics?"

The girl raised an eyebrow at the probing question, "My younger brother was the kage - the leader - of our village, so I've seen my fair share. Though he was much more diplomatic than most others."

"I see.." Victus whispered, before both his and Garrus' mandibles twitched; "... Wait, your _younger_ brother was the leader?"

"Well, in hidden villages; people advance through merits and sheer ability. So, age isn't much of an obstacle. He's in a comatose for now though, don't know when he'll wake up – though I am..." a bead of sweat trickled down Temari's chin, "... deeply worried about his potential mental state."

"Can't be all that bad. Plenty of you have been resurrected of late without ill effects." Garrus pointed out.

"You don't know Gaara." a sigh escaped her lips, "But this doesn't exactly help with the upcoming summit."

"Yes." the primarch hummed cleverly, "But it's a helpful distraction. And now, back to worrying about what I'm going to tell them. Soldiers I can handle, but there are politicians to manage up ahead.."

"Hang in there."

"How does hanging down from something help?"

Temari grimaced at that, not able to decide whether to laugh or cringe at that, "... It... was not meant to be taken... literally."

At that moment, Shepard left from the other room beyond this one – looking tired, like he had just pulled an all-nighter. Temari heard some chatting going on over there, but was unable to make out any of it during her current conversation, "Thought all of you were still downstairs in the infirmary.. was about to go down to see you.." he mentioned – his eyes on Temari as he placed his hands against the holographic table, "Mind if you bring this piece of news to the others?"

"Good, or bad?" Temari hesitated.

"A good one. Admiral Hackett's been watching transfer process of the tailed beasts – from a safe distance. Nagato hasn't reported back, but Hackett says the transfer seems to be complete. Aside from enough complaints posted by topographers to sink a reaper, it went without much of a problem."

The suna-nin nodded appreciatively, "Can we contact the Lance of the Six Paths from here?"

"Nowadays, contact is difficult to establish – what with all the comm buoys being brought down by the reapers across the galaxy. I asked if the admiral could provide your group's ship with a quantum entanglement communicator to make things easier on all of us."

At this, Temari could only blink emptily, "Okay.. I got no idea how that's better, but it sounds neat. Just wanted to know if my brother's condition has improved."

Shepard gave her a curt nod, "You'll be able to once we rendezvous with them at the edge of salarian space. Hackett's forwarding the coordinates to them as we speak."

"Good. Um, thanks." the girl clumsily thanked him.

The commander said nothing, offering instead a smile.. until an announcement from Joker brought a frown to his face; "Commander, we're getting a large number of contacts from the mass relay. You better see this."

Furrowing his eyebrows, Shepard placed a finger against his right ear; "Show us."

"Roger that, commander."

Victus looked back down to briefly look over the reports he's received up till now, as if he had seen something that might be related to this latest entry into the system, "Hm..."

The image of the galaxy faded away, and was replaced by star-filled space, with the distant mass relay in the center. The construct's rings spinning rapidly as dozens of ships appeared, in groups of five to eight ships at a time.

"More reapers, or reinforcements?" Garrus asked, narrowing his eyes at the sight.

"The latter.." the primarch coughed, looking up just in time for the image to zoom in.. revealing the organic nature of these newly arrived ships. "Oroc Corporation Gunships. Councilor Sparatus authorized their deployment and entry into turian space just a few hours ago, as there was no primarch in place to do it instead, according to this report. They're on our side."

"I.. wouldn't trust them too much if I were you."

Victus showed no sign of wariness towards the newcomers, other than mild disapproval aimed at their overwhelmingly organic build – which he was willing to ignore, considering they're here to assist the beleaguered armada. "As long as their guns are trained on the reapers, I got no steak with them – if that's the right expression. Now, if you please – move on to the relay." guessing correctly that the pilot had diverted the ship away from the current course to avoid getting close to the new arrivals. "We got a schedule to uphold."

Shepard watched the image of the closest ship with clenched teeth, almost expecting it and the others to turn and fire on the Normandy. But they remained on their current course with no sign of hostility. "... Right, Joker. Move on to the relay."

The course was rectified with a worried grumble from the pilot as he followed the order.

Having seen this much, Temari was just about to leave. "Well.. I better get back to the others with the news. Thank you for this conversation."

Garrus' and Shepard's attention remained on the image. Only the primarch turned to reply, "You're welcome. Will pray for your brother's recovery."

Temari almost blushed at such concern, though in a rather uncomfortable manner, "Er, thank you." before she hurriedly left the room.

* * *

The trip to the mass relay ended up being rather uneventful, and they soon passed through it – just as the OC ships fired their first shots at the reapers in their attempt to flank the enemy. The initial sustained volley of fire succeeding at damaging a few of the destroyers assisting the gargantuan dreadnoughts' push against the turian armada.

What happened from there was largely unknown to most of the crew as the Normandy headed for the next relay, to jump closer to the meeting place for the summit; the Pranas system, which also contain the salarian home world; Sur'Kesh.

A few hours had gone by since then. And concern for what's happening back home was clouding Victus' thoughts as he sat at one of the tables in the crews' quarter. Throwing away all the distractions of the war room for this more casual and quiet environment, dedicating his attention to how he's going to proceed at the planned summit. He would have gladly given half the salary he's earned across his life to know what the former primarch had in mind. "Spirits.." he whispered, feeling like the student he used to be decades ago, studying for an exam.. only now he had no material to study. "How am I going to surmount this challenge?"

"Maybe you should stop trying to think like a politician and think like the general you used to be." Shepard said as he invited himself to the table. Whether he just happened to come by or not, was hard to tell, "Mind if I take a seat?"

"It's your ship, Commander. And not part of the turian military. You don't need my consent." Victus replied sullenly, leaning back as the commander ventured to sit down on the opposite side of the table. "So.. you think it's that easy? Just act like a general?"

Shepard smiled, as if to a joke the primarch couldn't hear. "Let's start with this. What are you looking for the most in getting the asari and salarians to join the fight?"

"More guns and more bodies. Conventional warfare doesn't work as well as we'd like, yet that's what we need. And a super weapon if at all possible. Espionage and assassinations doesn't work against our current enemy, with no obvious leader and no need for supply chains." Victus described, his eyes absently wandering, gazing through the windows around the infirmary.. which the group of kalinin had yet to exit since the blonde girl returned to the rest.

"You'd prefer brute force?"

"... Yes, both which the salarians and the asari are no good at. Our selective choice of specializations has come to bite us in the ass. If only the Systems Alliance hadn't gotten hit like that."

Shepard's expression turned more solemn at the thought. "And in order to receive the aid we need to take Earth back, is to first aid our allies."

"I've been thinking of one alternate option. But it would seriously damage our ability to gain the support of the other races."

The commander's eyes sharpened, "And what did you have in mind?"

"It's just a thought. But hypothetically, if we could gain the support of the krogan, for example.. we'd get all the muscle we so desperately need. But we have no way of gaining that support, and no diplomatic channels with which to make a deal with them... Besides, our peoples hate each other."

"A cure for the genophage would do much to secure their aid."

"Yes, but there's no cure available. And it'd take years to actually create one. And offering one would alienate the salarians. And maybe the asari as well." Victus just barely kept a curse from being uttered as he frowned at the suffocating difficulties of politics. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Salarians got their fleets. Krogan got solid troops. "Who do we even contact?"

"I know of one." Shepard pointed out, "I've got an old friend on Tuchanka, who's at work uniting the krogan clans and reactivating them as a nation. He was part of my crew when we fought against Sovereign, and his puppet; Saren."

Victus' mandibles twitched once in wonder, "Truly?" putting the thought on serious consideration. "You're certain we can work out a deal with this friend of yours, if it comes to that?"

"Absolutely. I can try to send him an invite to the summit, if you're fine with that."

"Hm. Might as well give it a try. As long as the reapers exist, all life is standing on the precipice of extinction. We need to overlook past hostility for the sake of survival.." the primarch said, and was set on continuing until he paused and gaped in realization.

The look he got from the commander was one of great approval. "It seems you just got it."

Victus pulled off the turian equivalent of a grin. Was it that simple all along? "That, is going to be my pitch at the summit. Fight together or die apart." slamming his fist into the table with that realization. His clouded mind becoming as clear as crystal water.

"Exactly. I've been working with that in mind for a while. There are many forces out there willing to fight against the reapers, we just need to bring them together. The krogan, the quarians." Shepard mentioned, "They are also the enemy of most geth and of the resurfaced rachni."

Victus was half-expected to be rather put out about the latter two races.. but instead nodded in a solemn manner, "I don't know about the geth or rachni. You'll have to fill me in about that later. For now, let's try to get the krogan on board."

* * *

If people considered any one place in the galaxy to be its cesspit, Tuchanka might just be it. An entire planet covered by post-nuclear wastelands. The most inhospitable known world to possess a breathable atmosphere.

But to the rugged people that inhabit it, the Krogan race; it's home, no matter how bad it gets. For all of their hardships, they still thrive – all things considered.

Yet not even the armpit of the galactic arm could escape the war now being waged across the stars.

Underneath the cover of what remained of an ancient highway, several krogan peered at the horizon – listening to the thunder of heavy guns and artillery that had managed to echo all the way to the main settlement of clan Urdnot. The sounds of an ongoing battle against the reaper invaders. Among the listeners, the clan's leader stood.

Wrex watched Aralakh – their system's sun – go down until it touched the horizon, and finally decided to turn away. The ancient warrior maintaining an expression of grim solemnity as he made his way through the rubble, back down into the settlement – which stretched all the way around the local spaceport.

He could smell his idiotic brother's presence long before he could actually see him. Wreav pushed himself away from the wall he had been leaning against and walked alongside Wrex with an indignant glare.

"You got something to say?" Wrex grumbled the question.

Wreav said nothing at first, probably lining up a string of profanity in his mind that he was wise enough to leave unsaid. "What is it you're planning?" the burly krogan finally decided to ask, and did so gruffly that it could have turned any bottle of ryncol sour.

"Have Gaalsarc Usorc arrived yet?" Wrex growled in response.

His brother narrowed his eyes, "Came across our border guards just minutes ago.." which meant he's probably here already. The only borders to exist on Tuchanka are measured by the range of the inhabitants' guns.

"Then shut up, and pay attention." the old battlemaster growled, half-threatening Wreav with an authoritative headbutt. "If the coming operation's a success, our future will be assured."

Ahead of them, in the place that most closely could be considered a plaza – the shaman of Urdnot was holding his sermon. Another of the many rites he must pass through everyday, but it never failed to get a response as all the warriors gathered together to shout and roar in unison – including the five battlemasters Wrex had called for, each with a krantt at their side. Of them, only the aforementioned Usorc could match him in terms of sheer age.

Wrex halted for but a moment to savor the sight before moving on, stepping through the crowd – which quickly parted as the people acknowledged his overwhelming presence. Of all the krogan living today, only two have killed thresher maws on foot – and Wrex happened to be one of them. The other one being the vat-grown Grunt his old friend Shepard happened to bring to Tuchanka months ago. Such a feat commanded huge respect, no matter where one walked.

He was curious about all that have been going on in the galaxy, but right now he needed to focus on the here and now.

The rite soon finished, allowing the crowd to quiet down – their collective eyes on Wrex as he ascended to his rocky 'throne' atop the heap of rubble the shaman performed his rite on just moments ago. The even more ancient krogan stepping aside to let the clan leader past.

Wrex did not bother to sit down, instead he faced the crowd. Wreav – dutiful to a point – and the shaman standing at his side.

He scanned the crowd with those piercing eyes of his before starting, "So here we are again, with giant monsters at our doorstep." he said with a small shrug. The reapers were no laughing matter, but it was important to look confident, within reason. "Tuchanka's a ball of ruined rock, but it's our ball of ruined rock – and we'll bust open any reaper that disagrees."

That elicited scattered chuckles from the onlookers.

And that concluded the joking session. "Usorc of clan Gaalsarc. Asul of clan Gatatog. Tosc of clan Quash. Avenk of clan Nakmor. Suruk of clan Ravanor. And your respective loyal krantt. Each a capable warrior in your own right, with all the strength, cunning, intelligence and firepower to back it up. But the reapers will have to grab a ticket and wait for their turn."

Wrex did not let the crowd start to murmur among themselves. That would only lead to no good. "I... got something special in mind. For that, I'm going to tell you the reason I've gathered you all together." his eyes almost gleaming with that said, "As you all know, an army of husks recently tried to pass through the place that used to be the territory of the defunct clan Weyrloc. To prevent further penetration, I lead a force to head them off. Just weak piece of crap husks, but they needed to be dealt with – and we did." he told them quite plainly, without any dramatics. It was plain routine at this point to deal with such incursions, whether it be husks.. alien treasure hunters or packs of wildlife. "But deep inside the hospital clan Weyrloc used to live in, I found something pretty _interesting_."

Lacks of dramatics aside, the onlookers payed rapt attention.

"Some time ago, I encountered a salarian called Maelon. Said he wanted to _cure_ the genophage. I had him thrown out, as his experiments required krogan test subjects." Wrex said. "So he went to clan Weyrloc instead. Of course, their ideas were old-fashioned – which eventually led to their destruction." Shepard's image flashing through his mind, "And deep inside their compound, I came across Maelon's research data."

What he did not add, was that the data had been left there deliberately for him to find. During the battle on the old Weyrloc grounds, he was repeatedly assisted against the husks by someone he did not see even once, but whom eventually led him to the data pad, where all the information concerning Maelon's work was stored.

"From it, I learned that he performed numerous experiments on various females that vanished after Maelon's eventual death when Weyrloc came crashing down. And guess what, that radical pile of a lizard – succeeded."

"S-succeeded...?" Gatatog Asul stuttered. He had until then been sitting like he owned the place until that very word came across, really showing his minor age compared to the other battlemasters that were all centuries his senior.

"Yes." Wrex succinctly replied, "He managed to make those females immune to the genophage!"

The revelation sent a wave of shock through the crowd. Quash Tosc and his krantt exchanged words at a rapid pace, sounding excited over the news just like everyone else.

"And thanks to an insider of mine, I know where to find them."

More than a few were awed at this. What Wrex did not say was that this particular piece of information came from a recording that was planted with the research data. Truthfully, he had no idea who his benefactor might be.. but he could place a few guesses.

"Show us!" Gaalsarc Usorc demanded hoarsely. The news even caused the likes of him to swallow the ryncol he had enjoyed up till then wrong, "We need proof!"

Wrex smirked and waved for a few nearby fellow Urdnot to bring a projector over to him, which they did with some haste, and placed it next to the towering clan leader before falling back. Once there, he raised a hand to open a pocket in his armor and slid out a data pad before transferring the data in question over to the projector, which started up immediately to show the feed they all now wanted to see.

What the image showed looked like the inside of a laboratory, with salarian scientists walking around. The sight of the slim aliens caused more than a few krogan to grumble in distaste, but that discontent was replaced by wonder as the one holding the recorder moved to a number of holding pens. Each with a krogan inside. Three of them. One of them dressed in the clothing characteristic of a female shaman.

The recording was rather short, and cut off right after that, and repeated. During which Wrex stepped back to the fore, "These females were captured by the salarians the moment they discovered these ones' immunity to the genophage. They are being held in a research facility on their home world of Sur'Kesh. And it is our job to go there and bring them back."

The crowd responded with deep approval. Three fertile females, unburdened by the genophage, are a completely irresistible prize.

Ever wise, Usorc offered the million-credit question; "That is deep within salarian territory, how do we get in there without them noticing?"

"By being discreet, which is why I wanted veterans that won't go and pick a fight at every opportunity. I have also acquired a few salarian freighters to make this job easier." Wrex replied, the ships were readily captured and provided by the Blood Pack. Yes, even the most ruthless band of mercenaries out there listened to Urdnot nowadays. "Nevertheless, it will be an arduous operation. Which of you, flailing pyjaks, think you got the quad to come with me, and get this done?"

The response was thunderous, and shook the whole area as each battlemaster and their krantts stood up to answer the call with both shouts and stomps. The confusion and impatience that ruled earlier had been replaced by confidence and optimism. Watching this sight was one of many things that told Wrex that he made the right decision in giving this attempt to bring the krogan back together to what it used to be. Knowing it would never had happened if it was not for the inspiration gained from when he traveled as part of Shepard's crew.

Before long though, he was approached by Urdnot's lord researcher; Fortack. "Leader. There's a transmission for you."

"Whoever it is, tell them to wait."

"The one calling is this human you're so familiar with; this Commander Shepard."

Wrex's eyes flew wide. Considering what's going on around the galaxy, the chances of receiving a call for the sake of trivial reminiscence were extremely slim. "Hm, tell him I'll be right there in a minute."

_Heh, wonder what he's got in store this time._

He had no idea of the coincidence that was about to come crashing upon him.

* * *

And there you have it. Busy schedule, and a creeping case of writer's block is slowing down updates. Sorry about that.

Kind of pulled a fast forward here. But need to pull a jump in some places, and anyone who has played the game knows how Shepard convinces Victus to come with him. But hey, now it's Wrex's turn to show his glorious self - like a boss.


	54. Chapter 54

**Chapter 54**

* * *

Several days had passed by as the Normandy made its way to the border of Salarian space, where they finally rendezvoused with the Lance of the Six Paths, just a couple of light years away from the mass relay that leads to the Pranas System in the Annos Basin Cluster.

It did not take long for the kalinin on board to transfer back onto their spaceborne home. With much needing to be done, the wait for them to arrive hereto had been nothing less than agonizing.

"So, library's the first stop?" Naruto asked once they arrived, stepping off the shuttle that brought them into the Lance's hangar. Not even bothering to give the craft a glance as it lifted off and left once they finished disembarking.

"Yeah." Hinata replied, half in thought as she scanned the library with her byakugan – despite the difficulty of reading individual letters, particularly when it comes to scrolls. A frisky sideways glance from the brunette walking beside her quickly became rather distracting however, "Hm...?"

"Those eyes can be _so_ convenient." Tenten commented with a snicker, "Undressing with yer eyes again?"

Hearing that made the Hyuga blush deeply enough to make her old stuttering problem resurface with a vengeance, "N-no~ o-o-of course not!"

The successful attempt to fluster the girl elicited laughter all around. Even Shikamaru was in stitches, though he managed to be disturbed by the mental image it provided him too.

"Good to hear you're having fun."

They had just barely gotten past the door when they were greeted by Nagato's voice – cast in via the ship's intercom.

"We are about to start our own meeting, get to the armory – on the double." the former-akatsuki member continued dryly.

Shikamaru gave a meaningful groan, "You heard him, let's get it over with."

"Um, you guys go ahead." Hinata told the rest, "I'll come after checking the library, won't take long."

"Nagato ain't gonna like the delay.. but what the hell, be quick." the boy gave a little wave as he turned and left. The other three following suit, while the Hyuga went in the exact opposite direction.

Her pace increased from the previous half-relaxed walk, into a jog. Passing through the corridors until she arrived at the library, which was located fairly close to the bridge itself – for easy access, and security. Without a doubt, Nagato's six paths currently manned the bridge, with at least one positioned in the engine room, and another watching the humans. A quick check with her byakugan revealed her team almost at the armory already.

The long-haired girl spent a moment to marvel at how different the room looked compared to when they first claimed what Cerberus had stolen from their home world. It was a jumbled mess before, but had now turned into an orderly collection of metallic shelves. With scrolls and books separated in various sections named after the villages the information had been robbed from. More concrete artifacts had been stored within the chests lining the left-hand wall.

Hinata approached the Leaf section and quickly began to browse through the scrolls, intent on finding what she was looking for. Reading through at least twenty before Nagato began showing the slightest bit of impatience as one of the paths – specifically Animal path – got up and left the bridge. Stalking towards the library to get the girl to move to the armory obediently.

Ignoring the approach as much as possible, she quickened her reading. Sliding the currently held scroll back in before pulling out yet another, and unfurled it with a cautious gesture. Scanning the text for the faintest hint of what she was looking for.

"Hinata, that can wait till after the meeting." Animal path stated upon entering, a little annoyed.

"In just a moment."

"We got a lot of ground to cover."

"I know. Just..."

"The library won't grow legs and run away, girl."

"You'll never know. A talking light bulb might appear, take the information and fly away – giggling like a solicitous maniac."

The path rolled its eyes, echoing Nagato's reaction at the little attempt at being funny. "Why not just mention Madara while at it?"

"He is no laughing matter." she stated matter-of-factly.

"True."

Finally, the girl emitted a low gasp of triumph as she finally found what she was looking for, furling the scroll in question to bring along. "Found it.. what a relief."

"Better be good. Now get a move on, or I'll get Mei to come and fetch you."

Even though the mizukage had only done it once upon a time, she had already earned the status of a legend due to her ear-pinching skill. She could easily pinch the ears off a statue of granite if provided with the proper motivation. Hinata flinched visibly, and hurried to leave – pushing past him in the resulting burst of haste.

The moving corpse watched her leave, and turned to head back to the bridge once she had gone out of sight. Now convinced to use that threat a little more often from now on – with moderation.

* * *

The armory was fully packed to the brink. Seeing it from a distance was one thing, but looking upon it in person – close up – was a whole different thing altogether. Everyone sitting in a partial semi-circle, all facing the elderly Onoki. The adults, Mei, A, Kakashi, Nagato, Konan, Hidan, Kurotsuchi, and Kisame sitting to the left. While the rest, Ino, Temari, Naruto, Tenten and Shikamaru sitting to the right. Hinata herself bowed apologetically, "I apologize for taking so long, but there was something I needed to find first."

"Hmpf, sit." the elderly tsuchikage groaned, and gestured for her to pick a spot.

Seeing the need for it, Hinata stepped to the front and sat down beside Shikamaru – who also sat there on the front row despite himself. "Did you find it?" he whispered under his breath.

All she did was nod in return. Her eyes on the pedestals that had been erected in their absence. Each with a container on top – humming with all too familiar power.

"Alright. This meeting's now in session." Onoki announced. "First order of business is simple enough. Shikamaru. Did the events near Palaven fare well?"

The Nara raised his head once addressed, and visibly fought to keep himself from yawning, his eyes maintained a serious gleam though. "We destroyed a great number of husks, and successfully destroyed a reaper dreadnought. But many allied troops perished due to our poor judgment."

Several of the others shifted uncomfortably upon hearing that. Onoki however, went on to ask; "Hrm, what happened?"

"We agreed to assist in setting up a long-range bombardment. But it was ineffective. I recommend avoiding such measures in the future."

"Noted. Does everyone agree with that?" the old man looked across those gathered, receiving a nod from all. "Carried, unanimously. Continue."

"Our approach was limited in effectiveness. Target destroyed, but it nearly crashed on top of us.. had any other forces been present, we would have been goners." Shikamaru moved on, summarizing without going in detail, "We need a better first strike approach, and Hinata may have found a very suitable one."

"Oh, did she now?"

Hinata took it from there, holding up the scroll by the tips of her fingers for him to take. "I believe this is what we need. It's not the easiest in the world, but should give us a phenomenal advantage if executed properly."

"I see." Onoki accepted the scroll and unfurled it candidly, his eyes darting from side to side as he went on to read... "This is...?"

It was a silent moment, no one moved.

But finally, he quacked in approval. "Very good. This will do." and almost tossed the scroll back to the girl after furling it back up. "We'll include that for the upcoming training, and that brings us to the discs you see here."

"You succeeded?" Shikamaru inquired, as if it wasn't obvious enough.

"Indeed. We got the power of seven tailed beasts ready for use. However, training will be needed in due order. The order of who's going to be trained first and last being decided by the weight of your importance, both now and in the future. Personally, I believe the youngsters should be prioritized – for obvious reasons."

"We will have to construct a node of truth though." Mei made sure to note, "Conventional wisdom should still apply. We need to make sure – for safety sake – that whoever plans to use the discs go through the same training as conventional Jinchuriki."

A grumbled under his breath, as if counting the required time needed to undergo said training, "Time is a resource we don't have much of. The reapers continue to gain ground. And Kabuto – the filth – along with his ilk keeps entrenching themselves further."

Mei shook her head in disapproval, and countered almost immediately.

"Too much haste will do us no good, A. You can't spend all your life bashing through walls – it ain't cute at all, and makes for a poor house."

A scattered murmur of agreement spread across the small crowd. A looked willing to press the point home, but decided to relent in the face of an overwhelming opposition.

"Hate to say it. Ugh." Onoki straightened himself, rubbing a hand across his sore back, "She's correct. We'll bide our time and build our strength until we can decisively take a stand against our foes. Now, let's move on.."

Silence returned to the room before the elder once again spoke up after a moment's pause.

"It may sound like a little forced. But you two-" indicating both Hinata, and Naruto. "-will have serve as instructors in this. Particularly you, Naruto – as I understand, you've been a Jinchuriki since birth." he glanced at Kakashi, as if searching for confirmation.

The jonin answered succinctly, "I've not been privy to all information, but that's basically it. However..."

"-My training as a Jinchuriki began late." Naruto clarified.

"The point is; you've been one for far longer than Hinata despite that." Onoki rumbled, "You'll be the head instructor. As for you, Hinata. There is one thing we got in mind for you." he patted the closest pedestal, causing the JCA container upon it to levitate off of it and come to hover above his hand.

Hinata squirmed almost uncomfortably as her eyes followed the disc's descent.

"Yes?"

"You will be donning a JCA next time there's a planet-based mission to undertake. A Jinchuriki possess immense power wielding just one beast. We are curious of what kind of power might be achieved if one tries to wield that of two."

There had been thoughts and talks about that possibility for a while. And now was the moment of truth, the chance to put the theory to the test. The girl swallowed nervously, "I...I believe it might invite complications. But the assignment, I accept."

"Good girl."

"Hey, gramps-in-law."

The old man twitched as Hidan called out for his attention. "... What?" he muttered, glaring daggers at the young man.

Not bothered in the least, the blonde moved on; "There's a comfy-looking planet on the other side of this relay."

"That would be the salarian home world, Sur'Kesh." Konan informed him.

"Yeah, that place. Listen, we've not been able to take a step off this ship for a long time for the sake of taking a breath of fresh air." indicating himself and his beloved; the quite pregnant Kurotsuchi, who in turn gave a nod. "Might we take a day or two off to visit that place?"

A serious meeting taking such a casual turn did much to relieve a few of those present. Ino and Tenten barely managed to stifle a wave of giggles.

The old man looked like he was wondering if a herd of domesticated equines would appear out of nowhere to trample Hidan if he wished for it hard enough, "Denied."

"Aw, gramps." Kurotsuchi hissed under her breath, "Just for a day, it'll be good for the baby."

"The child ain't born yet, and won't be for months to come. Besides, I doubt those spineless salarians would allow any of us to tread on the surface of Sur'Kesh anyway."

A collective groan emanated from the two as their shoulders sagged in disappointment. The aging man continued.

"What is the current plan?"

This time the question was aimed at Shikamaru, who let out a long sigh. "Shepard gonna participate in a war summit alongside the new turian primarch, Adrien Victus – to meet with representatives of both the salarian union and asari republic. We also hear that an old friend of Shepard will attend, a krogan warlord by the name of Urdnot Wrex. They're just waiting for him to arrive before making the jump."

"It will be an outrage." Konan surmised, "There are no love lost between the krogan and galactic civilization at large."

"Useless to protest against it nowadays though. Surely they must realize that."

"Hopefully, they will."

"There's no use debating about it though. We'll just wait and see." Onoki interjected to keep them from going on with the specific issue. "This meeting's adjourned." he looked over the teens that had just come back as everyone got up – one after another – to leave the armory, "Get some rest. We'll give you the go-ahead to start your training once the node of truth's finished and ready for use."

* * *

Another couple of days went by before Wrex arrived, in a salarian freighter – which was not all that suspicious as the krogan did not have much of a fleet to begin with after the end of the krogan rebellion. Communications were exchanged between it and the Normandy before they along with the Lance of the Six Paths moved on through the relay, and headed in-system until they parked close to the orbit of the gas giant Halegeuse, where the ships sent by the union and the republic were waiting for them.

It was quickly agreed upon that the Normandy would serve as the meeting ground of the summit.

For obvious reasons, the krogan participation at the summit was kept a secret till the last moment.

And this precaution seemed to be just the right thing. Wrex did not know exactly why.. but probably it was to make sure the other parties of the summit wouldn't have enough time to get cold feet.

He listened almost idly as he stepped through the checkpoint. It was almost too much of a squabble to be bothered with. But listen he still did. Though he spent the initial few moments as he entered what passed for a corridor next to the conference room. One wall which could be seen through perfectly. Shepard and the turian representative on one side. While the salarian and asari counterparts stood on the far side. Wrex wondered if the wall's a see-though from either side, but none of those present seemed to acknowledge his presence.

Which was all good, for the moment. Instead, he scanned the corridor. Looking over the people already here, spectating the whole thing. Closest to him, there stood a tall human-looking guy dressed in a long cloak, and next to him, a blue-haired girl covered in armor – a teenager from the looks of it. Two more stood further away, but their attention happened to be directed at one another.

Further away, an odd alien unlike what he's seen watched the proceedings. The krogan was only able to see the side of him, but he was able to make the accurate guess that the insect-looking alien possessed four eyes... based on the odd positioning of the two visible from his point of view.

Wrex inaudibly hummed. Judging by the Hensa-class cruiser outside.. and the shuttle that came over to the Normandy, he expected there to be batarians on board. But no sign of those at all.

All he could see besides the aforementioned five, happened to be a human newswoman who was eagerly talking close to a hovering camera fixated on what occurred within the conference room itself.

Nothing else to do, he leaned on the rail along the wall – trying to do his best not to bend it – and watched. Waiting for a good time to enter, or when called to join in.

Right now, the Dalatrass was talking. Not an ambassador or general.. but the leader of the salarian union. But she was in no amiable mood, gnashing as she spoke:

"-and you still want our soldiers to fight – in the open – without thorough investigation and intelligence gathering beforehand? Don't be absurd."

Shepard was quick in replying, suppressing his annoyance all the while:

"That is what you will have to be prepared to do, when necessary. This is not a typical war. Our enemy is one that does not require any supply lines, and can produce armies of soldiers as they go. We must be ready to stand on our collective heels and push back in full force. But we cannot do it alone."

Primarch Victus' rested his knuckles against the table:

"Both my people, and humanity are under heavy siege. I cannot stress it enough, we need your peoples to throw their weights into the war as well. Or you will fight alone against the reaper armada along with the countless husks following in their wake – all arrayed against you, after they cast us into the dustbin of history."

"Even the kalinin, despite their low numbers – are willing to pull their weight. Why won't you?"

The asari diplomat present remained silent. The leader of the republic was supposed to be here, but it seemed she was too busy back on Thessia to attend. Instead, Dalatrass Linron carried their collective case. The salarian 'queen-bee' shook her head with a laugh:

"You must be joking. The kalinin have demonstrated survivability, resilience and strength to the point of absurdity.. the pale-eyed young female just beyond that wall could bench press a cruiser if she ever felt properly inclined. And you compare such monsters with that of our people? We will suffer terrible losses if we fight battles the way you're suggesting."

Wrex glanced sideways at the people standing next to him. Wondering which one the dalatrass referred to. Truthfully, he did not know much about the kalinin. _Pale-eyed, must be that one.._ he thought calmly as he scrutinized the blue-haired one from a distance. _Huh, doesn't look so tough._

He tossed the thought out before it developed any further, no time to delve on what appeared to be lofty hyperbole – instead focusing on what's more important right now. He agreed to come to this summit for three reasons. First, because Shepard's an old friend of his. Second, because he understood the threat facing the galaxy. And finally, because this summit offered an opportunity he could not miss.

Of course, there's a backup plan in place. Just in case something go pear-shaped about this.

Anyway, this looked like the perfect time to butt in.

Wrex pushed his bulky frame from the rail, and brushed past the others in the hallway on the way, "And that-" he announced his presence, stomping into the conference room in as much of an official manner as a krogan warlord can muster, "-I'm guessing is why you want to bring us in, to babysit the frail flowers afraid of getting some mud on their laps. Huh."

Two out of four were not pleased to see him. The dalatrass especially jerked her head back, eyes fully wide in disgust.. which her mouth swiftly conveyed into words:

"What is a _krogan_ doing here?!"

"I am Wrex, chief of clan Urdnot. Warlord of the clans of Tuchanka." Wrex managed the reply with all the authority and strength suitable for one of his station – as he loomed over both her and the asari diplomat who was quick to edge away with an invisible step.

"I'm glad you could make it; Wrex." Shepard greeted him with a handshake, which the krogan responded to in due kind.

"Hah. Wouldn't miss it for the world."

The primarch subtly – verbally – brushed past the krogan, "The reason for Warlord Wrex's presence, is because we need any help we can get. And the biggest concentration of raw power in the galaxy, happen to be the krogan. And raw power, is a thing we need badly."

Wrex placed his hands on the table, which mildly creaked under the weight he leaned against it:

"But of course, our aid won't come cheap."

The dalatrass looked particularly wary as she stared at the krogan with barely contained revulsion. She seemed painfully aware of what he most likely wants from those present, but asked the question anyway:

"What is it you want?"

"... A cure for the genophage."

She rolled her eyes in a '_I knew it_' manner. "Absolutely not! The genophage is nonnegotiable."

"Huh, fine. We'll just deal with the monsters on our own planet then, and watch the reapers wipe you out from the front row."

Shepard was not about to let it end like that, and pitched in on the krogan's behalf:

"The krogan have paid for their mistake. The genophage has gone on for long enough."

"One thousand, four hundred and seventy-six years, if you're keeping track." Wrex tossed in with a growl.

But the dalatrass did not budge from her position; "It was a thousand years of peace... free from brutes like you!"

Victus cut in like a razor blade at that moment, to keep the argument from escalating further:

"Enough! Whether or not they deserve a cure is academic. It would take years to formulate one."

"My information says otherwise.." Wrex smirked in response, now closing in on the primarch's position at the end of the table, "There was a salarian on my planet; Maelon. He tested a cure on a few of our females."

Victus assumed the krogan was gunning for the projector, which controls happened to be located on his end.. and backed away. Wrex wasted little time in starting the machine up and inserted the footage he carried into it. The image opening up on the wall, displaying the inside of a lab.. with krogans shown in holding cells.

"He succeeded. But they were kidnapped by the union after their immunity were discovered."

"Where did you get that?!" the dalatrass was visibly distraught, "It must be a fabrication!"

"No more lies, salarian! Those are my people, and you are going to give them back!"

Shepard smiled, but said nothing. But he was curious as to how he managed to get that footage. Krogan aren't exactly known for their spying prowess.

The dalatrass was about to respond when she was confronted by the turian primarch, who fixed her with a glare he usually reserved for his enemies, "Is this true?" hammering each word as if he blasted them out of a shotgun.

Faced with such an assault, she could only laugh with a sense of desperation.. "How will giving the krogan a cure benefit my people?"

"How long do you think you will last against the reapers alone?" Shepard interjected, "That's how it'll end up if you don't help."

And Victus appeared to be more than willing to corner the dalatrass even further:

"And I will be the last friendly turian you ever see."

She nearly gaped in horror. Much of salarian safety in the galaxy come from their strong relations with the turian hierarchy. Withhold the cure, and they would be very much alone – with a genocidal force of machines edging closer by the day. She looked to the asari within the same room for help.. but got naught but silence from her end. Faced with this reality, she finally caved in:

"T-the females are being kept on one of our STG bases on Sur'Kesh..."

The dalatrass watched with a vaguely trembling posture as Shepard turned, about to leave the room:

"But I warn you, the consequences will be felt for centuries to come!"

Shepard whirled around, transfixing the salarian with a strong glare; "It will be nothing compared to what will happen if the reapers win."

"Now then.." Wrex was raring to go, "Let's go get the females out of there."

It was not Linron's final say however as she pointed a finger at them, "You will not set a foot on Sur'Kesh, there are procedures...!"

"It will happen now!" Victus growled at her coarsely, "As a spectre, Shepard can oversee the exchange!"

"We're going." Shepard half-announced before he and Wrex left the room.. followed closely by those outside.

Victus left in due order, exchanging words with the asari diplomat.. mostly words of disappointment at the president's inability or unwillingness to attend this vital summit.

With this, the dalatrass was left all alone, staring through the window.. "I will not forget this." she snarled almost inaudibly.

* * *

Kite's nest. The home cluster of one of the most brutal and disreputable regimes in the galaxy. One that held a grievance centuries wide. The batarians had throughout their spacefaring history tripped from one diplomatic incident to the other. Annexing asari colonies, bombarding salarian worlds, countless cases of slavery and so on. It was a wonder they hadn't been beaten down by the other races of the galaxy out of sheer frustration.

But now, it's little but cinders after the reapers invaded. The hegemony's lies of its purported greatness availed them nothing as the ancient machines rampaged through them like implacable giants stomping an anthill.

Several systems in every direction now filled with very little but piles of rubble... and the millions of dead that narrowly escaped bleaker fates. Those were the lucky ones, them and those that managed to flee the devastation – which still continued on a few scattered worlds.

Little of this was in Kabuto's mind though as he watched what was taking place in orbit around the gas giant Azimir in the Vular system, the site of a major battle between the hegemony and the reapers.

That is, watching from his office on Tireth, several clusters away – of course. Several screens floated in mid-air around him. One of which displayed a rerun of the recent war summit. One which focused on the Statue of the Outer Path as it continued fueling the batteries that be distributed next. The third contained a live call, with the Shadow broker on the other side.

His attention was mostly focused on what was going on in the Kite's nest though, "Your information is as solid as ever, Shadow broker T'Soni." he praised the asari smoothly.

There in the middle of the field of wreckage, his masterpiece – the Juggernaut he presented at the Citadel – sailed effortlessly through the field with a cloud of Gunships following it, primarily to protect it while it ventured to gather yet another piece to bring it one step closer to perfection. It had already accommodated two Destroyers, and was closing in on the third – slamming aside ruined batarian ships while at it.

The Juggernet had grown considerably. It's appearance now akin to that of a flower with two petals – each with a reaper embedded into it, though only the front protruded from its surface – and six bony stalks.

Kabuto could not help but acknowledge, with a grin, that it looked positively hideous.

"My information is _always_ reliable, Kabuto." Liara spoke with a moderate measure of confidence. "Your weapon holds much promise. If only it could awaken more awe in an onlooker than outright horror."

Kabuto chuckled, "I don't put much work on aesthetics, lady T'Soni. I prefer functionality.."

As he said this, the Juggernaut went to work on the most recently-found destroyer. Two of its stalks stretched out for the ship. One curled around its main body, while the other secured a hold around one of its front legs, ripped it off, and did the same to the other legs before hauling the body across its frame.. toward a new petal that began to slide out from the back of its structure.

The petal opened and accepted the machine, fleshy tendrils invading breaches in its hull – filling the interior and taking over every aspect of the reaper. The many ongoing processes including a full attachment to the derelict's reactor and all of its systems. Taking just a bit longer to deactivate its indoctrination field. All while embedding it deeply into the petal, which would soon take its place next to the existing ones.

And the entire process took no more than a few minutes to complete. Once the new addition's fully integrated, the Juggernaut and its attached fleet would withdraw from Kite's nest.

"Keep up the good work. And I would greatly appreciate if you could find a dreadnought derelict for my masterpiece to salvage."

Liara gave a reassuring nod, "If there are any, my network will find them. Good day." and like that the call ended. Leaving the kalinin in silence, eying the Juggernaut footage for a little longer before he closed that as well.

So far... so good.

That done, he turned his attention elsewhere. Kabuto's gaze settled on the Statue of the Outer Path, and the data supplied by the factory surrounding it.

It was certainly a surprise to him. Initially, he thought two tailed beasts – for all their power – would be somewhat strained by the enormous demand of batteries, but it's actually running with energy to spare.

Kabuto reviewed the most recent automatic reports, was gratified by what he found – and considered accordingly. If one tailed beast is sufficient to keep production going.. then he could possibly have the other extracted, and use it elsewhere.

_Another JCA need to be made then.._

He closed the remaining screens and stood up. His thoughts on who gets to use it – which was essentially a no-brainer.

_The only one truly loyal to me is Tayuya in the end. She'll have to do.._

And what they could use for later plans happened to be extra muscle. The manipulated ones provided through Shino is good – but just in case, they needed servants that can follow orders without needing to have their minds monitored and controlled at all times.

Another image popped up with a press of a button, displaying the planet Parnack.

_Time for a bold move.._

* * *

**Author's note: **Another chapter up. Paragraphs are differently space in some places, a tiny bit more spread out with a little inspiration from elsewhere. It's what got me to finally pick up the pen and write this chapter after several days of mental lag.


	55. Chapter 55

**Chapter 55**

* * *

Abruptly, he woke up and rose up from his chair. The area around his left eye in slight pain as he took in the familiar view of the laboratory around him... resting his gaze briefly on Eve – still in her holding cell, kept in place by restraints roughly in standing position – before he looked over the nearby tables and computers, as if he just missed something... but could not quite place what...

It only took him a few seconds for someone's approach to come to his attention though. One look in the colleague's direction revealed it to be Padok Wiks.

"How long?" Mordin asked, brushing a finger against his hurting eye. This is what one gets for falling asleep on a microscope.

The fellow salarian shrugged, "One hour and fifteen minutes – easy."

"That much. Hrm. Should get back to work."

Salarians only require one hour of sleep per day to function normally in day-to-day life. Sleeping for longer than that is yet another reminder of how old he is. Retirement's often on his mind these days, despite the ongoing reaper invasion. But he recognized there are still work to do. Too much work. Mordin checked with Eve again – the name he uses to address her, that is. Considering she hasn't disclosed her own, partly due to her duty as a shamaness.

"How is she?" Padok wondered, "On the road to recovery?"

"... Yes. Symptoms fading. Should be alright." Mordin closed his eyes. Because of the cure Eve and the others females got from Maelon, their immune system had greatly weakened. A sudden weakness which cost the other females their lives. The old doctor blamed himself for not discovering this in time when disease took hold. Most of his attention now focused squarely on Eve, to make sure she stays in good health.

He was waiting for the krogan – specifically the leader of Urdnot, which had long since been confirmed as a loyal and good friend of Shepard – to make a move. Ever he listened for the smallest signs of an encroaching krogan incursion. Only to discover on the news, much to his pleasant surprise, that Wrex had made an appearance at the war summit – with very clear and specific demands.

That is good. This way there won't be any bloodshed.

"You've been really quiet lately." Padok noted, unable to believe his own ears. It was common knowledge throughout the STG, that _shutting up_ is not one of Mordin's strong suits.

"Much work. Much to think about. Much to consider."

"Never stopped y-" his sentence ending before the syllable could even be uttered as the alarm suddenly blared at them. Not local, and definitely not caused by experimental failure. No, this one's a facility-wide alert. Around the two, co-workers halted in the middle of their work and looked up at the ceiling.

"Alert! Unidentified but possibly hostile forced detected – incoming from the south-west! All security teams stand to!"

The floor trembled faintly, following the announcement. Like a distant explosion had just gone off.. with gunfire following soon after, which ramped up quickly as base-security and intruders clashed.. and it was spreading like a bushfire. Which meant the enemy is either very organized, possess formidable rapid deployment capabilities... or both.

Initially, Mordin was willing to assume the krogan decided to take the female by force – despite the agreement. But the weapons used sounded very much like the M-96 Mattock. Not exactly the krogan's weapon of choice. Due to the positioning of their eyes, krogan makes poor marksmen at middle to long range. The very obvious reason why they prefer shotguns.

But first things first...

"Hurry, all of you! Standard procedure! All non-combat personnel; fall back to the closest shelter." Mordin called out to the rest – common knowledge, but nothing's wrong about reminders – as he went to the nearby locker, entered the code and extracted a pistol from it, along with several heat sinks. A weapon for emergency situations. And this more than qualified as one.

His colleagues were quick to file out of the room – away from the ongoing fighting as it continued to rage upstairs... getting steadily closer by the minute. Padok however, did not even budge as he watched his colleague prepare, "What are you doing...?" gesturing at the gun, "... By any chance, do you know what the attackers may be after?"

Mordin regarded him with great severity as he pressed a heat sink into place; "_What_ is not the question... but _who_."

* * *

The shuttle had just left the Normandy's hangar, en route to Sur'Kesh. Yet despite the feeling of getting somewhere in this difficult time, the general mood on board was grim.

Wrex at least had settled solidly into that feeling as he looked around. There are more people on board than necessary for a job such as this. Just him and Shepard would be more than enough – not including the shuttle's pilot. Yet four more had tagged along – whose named he picked up back in the elevator.

The strange four-eyed alien next to him; Javik. Whatever the hell he is, sat with a severe frown like it had always been there.

On the other side, sat the pale-eyed female; Hinata.. one of those collectively referred to as 'kalinin' – sitting there without acknowledging anyone while balancing a strange container from hand to hand. Her expression unreadable.

Next to her, the couple stood. The blonde guy – Hidan – and the female half of the pair; Kurotsuchi. The two giving one another an awful lot of attention. Javik muttering something unintelligible at the sight of them.

"So, why did you lot come along?" he finally asked.

Shepard eased his way in from the cockpit, "I guess this is the first time you've seen the kalinin, Wrex."

"Aliens, or a sub-species of yours?" it was painfully obvious Wrex hadn't payed much attention to what had been going on around the galaxy since he returned to Tuchanka.

"Alien..." Hinata mumbled, not looking up.. "I'm j-just coming along to test something."

Hidan pumped a thumb into the air, "And we're going on a picnic!"

"Fantastic." the krogan grunted, hiding his sarcasm well enough for the alien not to catch it, then turned to the remaining one; "And what the hell are you?" Not exactly a very diplomatic question.. but he did not care.

Javik gave him an oblique glare, "Prothean."

"... Say again?"

"He's a prothean." Shepard confirmed, slightly amused.

"What, really?" Wrex glanced out the window, sort of wondering if a horridly friendly reaper would pop into view with a booming '_Hi guys!_' for a greetings. And was immeasurably thankful to see it was not the case, "Real freak-show you got here, Shepard."

"Keep it friendly, Wrex."

"You know me, I'm a perfect gentleman."

"One with sarcasm for teeth." Javik felt free to add, though he was not a perfect gentleman himself either... by any definition.

Hidan blinked obliviously, "Since when was the guy sarcastic?"

Kurotsuchi raised her shoulders, "Darling, you're so _very_ dense, sometimes."

"Commander!" Cortez called out; "The dalatrass needs to speak with you."

Shepard gave him a nod, "Open up on the main channel."

"Aye, sir."

Wrex had a feeling this would be a make or break in regards to their deal – steeling himself for the worst.

"Shepard, the STG base is under attack."

"...Attacked by who?" Shepard wondered.

The dalatrass did not answer for the next few seconds, and when she did – sounded deeply distressed, "This is frankly unbelievable. According to facility's second in command, it's Cerberus."

Wrex noted the mood changed quite a bit on board.

"I thought they had been destroyed! How did they amass manpower and resources like this in such short time... how did they even get to Sur'Kesh without us noticing?!" the dalatrass continued, her anger palpable as she slammed a fist into what convenient surface happened to be nearby.

"I'm guessing.." Shepard said, clenching his teeth, "... they got stealth-capable ships in this system. Cortez, tell Joker and EDI to search Sur'Kesh's orbit for concealed Cerberus-affiliated ships."

"On it." the shuttle's pilot replied in the affirmative. Opening a link to do so while the dalatrass spoke up again;

"Shepard, I may not have the authority to order you around – but other than the krogan females, the facility contains sensitive information and secret projects we do not want to see in Cerberus' hands. Thus, it is in your best interest to help repel the enemy forces."

"Already planning on it."

"Um, Shepard?" Kurotsuchi raised a hand to get his attention, "...There is one thing we need to tell you regarding Cerberus. Back on Eden Prime, before Ino and the others found Javik.. she probed a Cerberus trooper's mind... and discovered what possibly allowed Cerberus to recover so quickly. It's horrible."

Shepard looked like he couldn't believe his ears, "Why did you not tell us about that sooner?"

"It... kind of fell to the side because of all that has happened..."

The commander looked just about to throw a fit, but calmed himself, "What did she see?"

"Cerberus got some sort of facility out there, where they take in colonists and – most likely – refugees. Followed by brainwashing and partial huskification – using said process to mass-produce soldiers to further Cerberus' goals."

"So, that's how..." the dalatrass almost grinding her teeth, "They could easily build an army that way, by exploiting refugees fleeing from the reapers."

Shepard was filled with revulsion, "We need to find that facility and shut it down..."

"You need to save ours, first. Shepard."

"Right..." he said reluctantly. Understanding current priorities; "Cortez, get us down there, pronto!"

Wrex had kept himself silent the whole time as he listened to their conversation, disguising his deep concern with barely restrained anger as he picked up his shotgun and readied it. Giving consideration to calling for backup from Gaalsarc and the others – still waiting on board the freighter he came with. For now, he subtly sent a code to make them ready themselves, so they could join in if he needed them to.

Cerberus. He overall knew little regarding them bar what he learned during the fight against Saren and Sovereign. Wrex clutched his weapon tightly, wondering how strong they've gotten compared to his past encounters.

"I'm guessing they came for the females, Wrex." Shepard told him, "I don't know why.. But it can't be good."

The krogan watched the view beyond the window as the shuttle plunged into Sur'Kesh's outer atmosphere.. descending at a breakneck speed, "They better not be dead, Shepard. If the females are all dead by the time we get there, there will be no krogan participation in your grand alliance.." managing to say it in a more hostile manner than intended, though he considered Shepard to be a better and more trustworthy friend than every other alien – even more so than most fellow krogan.

The commander was unfazed though, responding amiably; "We'll get them, don't worry."

"I'll buy you s-some time.." Hinata finally spoke up with narrowed eyes, "Let's see h-how they deal with a shinobi airdrop." and with a loud metallic click, inserted the container she carried into her armor, which immediately pulsed with power.

Wrex was both alarmed and perplexed by this energy, "What is this?"

"Chakra." the commander whispered, invisibly and unconsciously taking a step back. The container's producing so much of the otherworldly energy that it practically oozed from the armor, "Try to tone that down if you can..." he told her.

Hinata realized the spread too, and tried to see if there are ways to decrease it while the container's in place, "Yes, sorry about that."

"We're almost there. Arrival in four!" Cortez announced, "Get ready, LZ is hot!"

* * *

"Hold the line!"

Such an old line, but he still used it. Kirrahe rapidly made the selection, planted his palm against the floor.. and up came a chest-high wall, which he immediately landed himself behind and opened a shot over his shoulders without aiming it. A call for caution came from the enemy, cool and collected, yet with a strangely synthetic tone to it.

They're humans alright. All of them wearing bulky but powerful suits of armor that managed to give them a a significant amount of perceived unstoppability. But that was not the problem.

The enemy is Cerberus. A paramilitary group. Yes, they are well-equipped, and organized – that he had no problem accepting. But this. There are turian _brigades_ with less firepower than what these commandos are throwing around like candy!

One teammate of his raised his head just an inch too far as he tried to shoot back at the advancing enemy squadron, and got his scalp blown off for his troubles in an instant.

At this rate, the entire facility would be overrun. Cerberus are all over the place, with both Kodiak drop shuttles and Mantis gunships providing providing fire support. And that is without taking those ridiculously formidable ATLAS mechs into account. The facility's own little air force were annihilated just a couple of minutes ago, turning this from a bad situation... and into an absolutely shitty one.

Without OCA, his team would have been mowed down by now.

_We're outnumbered, outmaneuvered, and outgunned on our own home planet. That ain't right. How in all the universe did a force like this get here without our information network picking them up?!_

His STG squad continued to exchange fire with the enemy in this narrow terrace. Cerberus may not have OCA, but a few of them used hand-held shields thick enough to bounce off small arms fire. Yet they're real bullet magnets, his men did not want those anywhere near them. Most of the enemies are using those shielding comrades to get in close, justifying the amount of attention they're getting. One temmate, Sallis, managed to slot one finally by concentrating fire at the horizontal slit in the shield.. and eventually managed a headshot.

The Guardian's death exposed the trooper immediately behind him.. who chose to advance, covered by another further back – Kirrahe took a calculated risk, rose up and unloaded a single round into said trooper's helmet, then ducked back down. Taking the following dull thud - the trooper collapsing on top of the guardian - as a kill confirmed.

_Two down... if only we could get to the armory, and break out some heavy weaponry._

Kirrahe put a finger against his ear; "Command, do you read me? This is Captain Kirrahe, where is our backup?"

"This is Command." the swiftness of this response was greatly appreciated, "All forces currently engaged. No reinforcements available at this time."

He winced as yet another of his men fell. The soldier clutched his chest, almost perforated by enemy fire.. trying to utter words of desperation before he fell still. "Then get us some! We are taking heavy casualties. I say again, heavy casualties! Sector 9 shelter is right behind us."

"Sir, we are aware of your situation. But we do not have the manpower to spare."

_This can not be happening, not here_. "No, you do _not _understand. There are-"

"Incoming!" someone called out. Friend or foe, he did not know... what followed was a colossal explosion that shattered most of the terrace and sent plumes of dust and pulverized metal and concrete flying into the air – it almost deafened him, and could just barely make out the shadow of a Kodiak passing overhead.. yet, instead of dropping troops, it moved on towards the LZ.

Daring himself into taking another risk, if only out of sheer curiosity.. to find out what just happened, he rose into a crouch and peered back his self-made piece of cover.. and found a sight of pure devastation.

The enemy squad they were fighting had been destroyed, along with most of the terrace. Between him and wherever those bodies are now, stood a lone girl – her magnificent mane flowing in the wind as she took in the surroundings, her armor covered by a cloud of energy actively attempting to solidify itself.

Another enemy charged into sight, a Mantis gunship, which immediately spied out the girl and attacked. But incredibly, all she did was lower her stance – as if bracing herself – then thrust out an arm. A perceived useless move, if not for the fact that a mysterious hole was almost instantly blown through the gunship. Unable to withstand the amount of damage, the craft tilted, capsized and fell out of view... crashing into one of the terraces below them.

Kirrahe finally got his hearing back, as command shouted at him; "-Captain Kirrahe, I say again; report!"

Numbly, he answered; "I think... you're not going to believe this."

* * *

"..." Hinata looked down at her hands as the malevolent oozing chakra washed continuously across her body. She hadn't even entered stage one yet – borrowing only a slight amount of strength from both beasts - and already possessed this much power.

_I was supposed to be trying this out in solitude, but I guess there's no helping it..._

The Hyuga closed her eyes and focused, coating herself with the energy of both beasts.. giving her what amounts to two separate demon cloaks. The Sanbi's being the innermost one, while the Nanabi – seven-tailed beast – provided the outer cloak.

Ignoring the shouts from behind, she went after the next immediate group of Cerberus she spied out. Climbed onto the fence, crouched down, and propelled herself into the air – across the river raging through a trench that separated the facility roughly in two – and into the structure on the other side.

The squadron she had set her eyes on was far from being the closest one, it just happened to be most conveniently placed, and had just finished off a salarian security detail – which provided just the amount of elbow-space she needed to let herself loose.

She was shot at almost immediately, but did not stop her at all. She couldn't even feel the impacts, those live rounds might as well had been all blanks.

Hinata crashed into the middle of the group of infantry, brought an arm up, and lashed out.. just a simple strike meant to smash the three closest ones into the wall... instead, she practically sliced them all in half... and obliterated the wall behind them.

The amount of damage from so little was shocking... enough to make Hinata pause long enough for the surrounding soldiers to unload ammunition at her like it's running out of stock, and each went through at least two heat sinks before she recovered and retaliated.

Someone must have thought they were doomed.. as a trio of heavy rockets just slammed into her, vaporizing the remaining troopers around her before she could lay a hand on them – pulverizing the whole section of the terrace in the process.

Hinata searched instantly for the originators of the shots, and found three towering ATLAS mechs arraying themselves atop a nearby dam, aiming down at her. They had all just arrived, launched down from orbit.

"Stage two."

It is much more than the targets required, but she did it anyway. The whole notion of Cerberus sacrificing a whole squadron of their own like that was appalling – despite most of them being brainwashed to start with.

A piercing rage entered her mind as the cloaks' chakra density increased drastically, becoming much more defined in shape. First the visage of the anthropomorphic demonic turtle, with characteristics of the beetle soon adding to it.

Even brainwashed, those piloting the mechs visibly recoiled from the sight, and aimed for a second barrage – too late to prevent her approach.

Hinata launched herself from the terrace, shattering what's left of it in her wake, crossing into melee range of one of the mechs in almost an instant, and shot her arm through its torso.. holding it in place for a moment before throwing it over her shoulder with a grunt – amplified into a harsh deep bellow by the cloak.

She did not notice just how horrified that pilot was, nor how big she was with the dual-biju cloak. With it, she easily matched these mechs in terms of size.

The remaining two immediately retaliated with both their rocket launchers and mass accelerator cannons – the sheer volume of it causing Hinata to stagger before she thrust an arm forward, initiating a flat-handed vacuum palm. Presenting not her palm, but the fingers. A cutting wave instead of a blunt shock wave. The mech she targeted was struck across its waist and fell in two separate pieces.

Deeply disadvantaged, the remaining one tried to pull back.. but she didn't let it, and thrust two of her cloak's tails at it.. piercing through its cockpit and torso.. killing the pilot instantly.. then sliced the machine in half while retracting the tails.

It was a win, though battles still raged throughout the installation. Yet she did not feel any sense of fulfillment, nor a sense of horror the manner she dispatched her foes – just a deep seething rage, and a bloodlust fueled by excitement so base it could break a lesser being.

Looking for her next set of targets.. something deep inside... or outside of her body prompted the girl into letting out a loud cry. Her own voice mixed with the Sanbi's booming bellow.. and the Nanabi's insect-like screech. Together producing a horrifyingly distorted howl.

* * *

They arrived at the LZ, located roughly on the structure's roof. From what Shepard could tell, this entire installation consisted of a series of tiered Ziggurats, with a river-trench running between each one, with the occasional dam serving as both a bridge, and to funnel water into the structures. The whole place was structurally well-suited for defense – but the scale and intensity of this assault by Cerberus had taken them completely by surprise. Its architecture now working against its own defenders.

But the terrorists did not expect reinforcements so soon. And that worked to their advantage, allowing him and the others to disembark from the shuttle safely as it landed.

On the far side of the area – strewn with salarian corpses - a couple of combat engineers could be seen rushing into cover, with a damaged blast door behind them. Obviously having attempted to force it open. One of them shouted for backup, while the other worked on deploying a turret. Further away, more Cerberus soldiers made their appearance. Close to a dozen of them. One looked particularly ominous, heavily armored and surrounded by a biotic barrier. While armed with a pair of glowing lashes attached to the wrists.

Shepard took up position behind a pillar, the others already engaging enemy forces... Wrex being the most aggressive, he had already killed two before they could get in cover as he charged like a bulldozer, "Javik, back him up!" he shouted before following suit.. gunning down any troopers daring to take pot-shots at the charging krogan.

* * *

"So much for that picnic.." Hidan quietly lamented, sitting casually behind the bench while the firefight raged, appearing indifferent to the gunshots landing against their piece of cover.

Kurotsuchi raised her arms, "Better clean this up fast then." taking just one look at enemy positions before settling into a crouch, completing a single hand seal before pressing her palms against the floor, "Earth style; Earth flow spears!"

The jutsu was initiated, promptly impaling several troopers upon a dozen metallic spikes shooting up from the floor, turning half the roof into a pincushion – so quick they weren't even able to gasp.

"Love what you're doing to the place." Hidan complimented with a smirk.

It was not the most widely appreciated application of a Jutsu though. Further ahead – to the left – Shepard called out to them; "Watch it! Wrex almost got caught up in that!"

"Shut it!" Kurotsuchi shouted back, pumping a single hand into the air, "It's his fault for going in like an idiot!"

"Don't make me come over there!" the krogan obviously heard that.

"Happy thoughts, darling." Hidan hushed, "Happy thoughts, one big flowery field soaked with the blood of our enemies."

"Aw, honey." the woman cooed.

* * *

"Bah..."

Wrex swerved to avoid the spikes now jutting across the, area. Whatever caused this, it's not biotics. But questions could wait. As he charged, a trooper stepped out of cover to shoot him, only to take a round in the shoulder – courtesy of Javik, who was following him close behind.

Taking the opening provided, he slammed bodily into the trooper and sent it crashing into the floor with enough force to break any number of bones, with a blast from his shotgun added in for good measure.

Having landed himself in the center of enemy attention.. and their line of defense, he shot his next target down.. and propelled the next two into the spikes with a biotic throw – not even watching them get impaled, instead focusing on his next target as he rampaged. His hulking visage impossible to ignore for the beleaguered Cerberus soldiers now trying to repel him, projectiles steadily hammering against his shield and biotic barrier.

At this point, he's practically a walking tank. It'd take one to take him out now... or maybe not even that. No one would stop him from taking those females away from here, no one!

Then, something heavy crashed into his side.. the strange heavily armored soldier from before had come to challenge him directly. A lash – made from biotics – had wrapped around his shotgun and wrenched it from his grasp. Not that it's gonna stopped him.

Wrex dug his heels in and – quite simply – punched the soldier to the ground with all of his strength. Leaving the other soldiers to Javik and Shepard as the sides continued to exchange fire, while he bashed this one's face in.

The soldier attempted to roll away and get back up for another attack, only to be sent crashing down again as the much more massive krogan ran him down like a freight train. And while his opponent was stunned by the blow, quickly retrieved his shotgun and ended the brief duel with a shot to the head.

* * *

With their hastily erected line of defense broken, it took less than a minute to clear the area of hostiles, leaving the way to the elevator open.

Shepard was about to proceed and use the access key he downloaded into his omni-tool, courtesy of the dalatrass. But the only doors it can open are those leading to the laboratory containing the females, "Let's hope this is the right door." he said, hovering the business-end of his omni-tool close to the door's lock.

"It better be..." Wrex growled.

Javik shrugged, talking to himself; "And to think, back in my cycle; they used to lick their own eyes. Now look at them..." referring to the salarians.

"Doesn't matter. Only the females do, and I sure as hell don't want to linger."

His tool worked its magic on the door, and much to the relief of the shore party, the door creaked and slid aside – opening the way. "We're on the right path, let's keep goin-"

If the air could ever split apart, it just did. Shepard clutched his ears as an ear-splitting cry echoed across the installation, momentarily deafening the firefights still ongoing all over the place.

Searching for the source of this, the commander turned from the elevator and ran to the edge of the terrace, followed quickly by the others. The kalinin pair was especially quick, Hidan uttering a quiet; "Holy shite..."

And the same words went through his own head once he peered down at the dam – following the others' gaze – and found what had produced that sound.

Down there, atop the dam stood what's unmistakably Hinata – surrounded by a whole new demon cloak. Immediately recognizable was the turtle-like form of Hinata's tailed beast. But this time, it sported several spikes and sharp edges.. akin to a carapace. A two-pronged horn jutting out of its forehead along with a pair of mandibles, akin to those of rhinoceros beetles. In the back, an additional appendage had joined the three tails... along with six wide-spread insect wings positioned along its back.

For a demon cloak, it looked seriously messed up. But definitely a presence one wouldn't want to lose sight of.

"What... is that?" the krogan wondered.

Kurotsuchi answered after a moment of relative silence; "It's Hinata. So, this is what happens while wielding two biju at the same time. Not only the power of both combined, but their appearances mix too..."

"Will she be okay?" Shepard ventured to ask, worried... "If those wings count at all, I'd say she's got ten tails out now."

Down there, the beast released another howl, slamming a fist into the dam with enough force to nearly crack it in half, before it launched itself at the ziggurat to the right.. pulverizing several of the terraces on impact. And it did not take long before the place started coming apart.

Without doubt, there will be a whole lot of collateral damage. In worst case scenario, it'll be the Citadel incident all over again.

The kunoichi watched the ensuing destruction with trepidation, "Er... I certainly hope so... With the power of two tailed beasts, Hinata's one hell of a wrecking ball. More so than ever before."

"Then we better get our business done, and fast."

* * *

Author notes: Phew, that was yet another hard-fought chapter. On my part, writing the start of a chapter's the hardest part - tried to decide on approach. First considered one much like the scene in-game, but eventually decided to make adjustments to ease the process.

Oh well. They've gotten down to Sur'Kesh, and Hinata's attempting to control two tailed beasts at the same time. But it's easier said than done.

That said, 55th chapter. Thanks for all the support thus far, and hope you continue to enjoy the story in the future. Sorry for the delay, and (may be a bit early for this part) happy new year.


	56. Chapter 56

**Chapter 56**

* * *

"All I'm saying is; this is like Mission Impossible forty-six, except we're right in the middle of it – searching for phantoms." Joker maneuvered the Normandy into orbit around Sur'Kesh, and felt strangely alone, though he wasn't. Their apparent enemy here consisting of an unknown number of stealth-capable ships, courtesy of Cerberus. With no heat emissions, he was limited to stare out the canopy for anything that might seem suspicious, "And the salarian fleet is doing what, playing their version of chess? Hopping over ropes?"

"Most of their fleet has been positioned out of plain sight to prevent preemptive strikes, Jeff." EDI's synthetic voice answered him plainly.

Joker raised his shoulders incredulously, "And now, Cerberus has managed to throw a preemptive strike against their own damn home world. Hey, lizards – what Javik calls you charming folks - good job. Keep at it... Go and grow a freaking spine now, would ya?"

"Jeff..."

"Yeah, fine." it was an absurd request, but it was an order. And absurdity is a near-daily routine on this trip. The man swore under his breath. Even planets are tiny specks of dust in the enormity of space.. but at least they could be detected in a large number of ways. The target of this search on the other hand...

"I am hearing reports about Cerberus deploying heavy mechs." EDI thought aloud. She probably went ahead and hacked her way in to the STG base communications' network, "With that information, I should be able to narrow down our search."

_Thank god for that..._ Joker thought to himself. Imagine if he did this job back on the old Normandy, without AI support. It was a good ship, but the thought of using it in a task such as this is... daunting, to say the least.

"There." the AI brought up a hologram on the left, with a highlighted cone that reached from the base, and all the way into high orbit. Still a huge area to cover, but better than before. Much _much_ better. Joker immediately set course for the outer edge of the cone's perimeter, right smack in the middle of it. His hope was to find the enemy as quickly as possible, then take it out if possible. "Wait.."

"What?"

"Detecting extremely slight heat emissions. No more than a tiny blip, but it was there."

"Give me the coordinates, and I'll get it checked." Joker nodded appreciatively as the data was given over to him. He couldn't believe the luck, it was almost too good to be true, considering the inherent difficulty associated with a task such as this.

Minutes ticked away as they approached the coordinates of the aforementioned blip.. Then another one was conjured, confirming the presence of something.. and Joker was almost willing to bet his ass it came from what they were looking for.

But then, a light appeared in the far distance, stronger than the blanket of stars behind it.

"Evade!" EDI called out.

Joker groaned a battle-cry as he banked the ship to the side, narrowly dodging the slug that had been sent his way, "Okay... how did they notice us?" was the first question afterward.

"It is likely that Cerberus are using reaper tech." it was a guess. A _guess_. But it managed to make sense. In any other situation, the enemy should be having the same difficulties they have.

Then he saw them. The faintest sign of the enemy, which was highlighted by the AI immediately. Joker sank back into his seat at what he saw, and felt a huge sweat-drop trail down the back of his head – and for a moment worried it would short-circuit something if it ever fell.

A_ Carrier_...

Two Cruisers...

Thirty-five Fighters...

All stealth-capable...

_Shit... holy motherfucking shit!_

And like a layer of an onion, nearly half the fighters peeled away from the formation – bearing down on them.

"Okay, bad situation!" Joker said in a surprisingly cool tone as he threw the ship onto a new course.. the fighters eagerly began to pursue them, like a bunch of bullies after some poor nerd, "EDI... give the coordinates to the dalatrass. If her fleet's done picking nuclear daisies, I could use some help!"

"Already on it. Hang on, Jeff."

So there he was, with no choice but to bid a hasty retreat with sixteen fighters on his six, blasting away like mad. Even for a pilot as good as him, it was like trying to dodge rain.

In any case, he couldn't take them down on his own. So for now, they continued to send in more troops without interference.

* * *

It felt like the elevator was going to fall apart as the structure rumbled lightly around them. All of them were silent, and held their weapons tightly. Shepard got them ready with a wave and pointed his rifle at the door as the contraption stopped, and opened up.

Ready for whatever might jump out at them, the group moved in with a notable degree of caution. The lights of the apparent laboratory were dim, except the bright blue light of a barrier close to the distant corner. Around it, arranged in a semi-circle, the arrivals found a hastily made barricade of tables and computers crewed by two salarians. The one to the left immediately rose to greet them:

"Shepard. Good to have you here. Very timely."

Shepard blinked, recognizing the terse talk instantly, "Mordin?" and gave the call for the others to lower their weapons - though Wrex didn't. He and the doctor exchanged a handshake once the gap between them had closed. Wrex on the other hand strode through the rearranged set of tables, looking for the females.. of which only one was visible.

"Eyesight still sharp. Surprise understandable."

"Didn't think you'd return to the STG."

"Special consultant. Had to be. Someone else might have gotten it wrong." Mordin replied, and leaned just a little closer.. his voice lowered to a whisper; "Helped krogan female. Fed information to clan Urdnot."

"So, _you_ were that krogan's inside source?" the other salarian asked, whilst folding his arms; "Was starting to think the krogan managed to get the drop on us. Imagine the embarrassment." he looked to Wrex and raised his arms, "No offense."

The krogan however did not seem slighted, "Where are the other females?" as he looked over the holding pens.

"Wrex?" the female in sight asked, bound in place behind the pen's barrier. It was neither surprise nor disbelief in her voice. More like she was exasperated.

Wrex's eyes lingered on the female for a moment too long before he turned to Mordin with a stance more than a few would have found threatening. But the doctor was not even fazed, "Where are the rest of them?"

"Dead." Mordin informed him directly, "Maelon's treatment. Greatly weakened females immune system. Saved her." his expression turned grim, "Could not save them."

But the krogan did not take the news too well, "What?!"

"Do not touch him." the female verbally brushed her way between them, "You can trust this one, he helped me."

Wrex withheld himself just barely at her words, and instead went on to open up his omni-tool, which he hammered his fingers against in a hurry. Looking like he was writing a message, and thew in all the details he could, "Fine, but I'm taking you back home, right now!"

"That may not be such a good idea, Wrex." Shepard warned him, "Escorting one person through the chaos outside is going to be difficult."

"Not for much longer."

"What do you mean?"

"I did not come here unprepared, Shepard. I've got my own backup, and they will be here soon, once I give the word, which is now." Wrex grinned, and transmitted the message, "The best of Tuchanka, and their respective krantt. If Cerberus got any sense left, or if there are lizards that object to her release... they better start running."

Shepard frowned, and turned away to call for Cortez, "Status report.. what are the kalinin doing outside." who had lifted off the moment they entered the elevator.

"Ain't got no clue as to what the couple's doing, sir." Cortez responded, "The girl though.. she's ripping the whole place a new one. I think Cerberus is trying to pull her away from you."

"Great... keep an eye out." he closed the transmission, and instantly saw both advantages and disadvantages in this situation, and found that the former outweighed the latter. Depending on how much Hinata's in control, it may be best to get out now while Cerberus keeps her busy, "Okay, Wrex. We'll follow your plan... get her out of there and let's get ready to move."

"Already begun." Mordin said as he eased his way into the holding pen via a side-hatch, preparing to disengage the female from her harness, "Ready for release, Eve?"

The female gave an approving nod, "I need a weapon."

"And you shall have it." Javik took and tossed the pistol he received from the Normandy's armory. He felt more than enough at ease with just his pulse rifle. And the krogan female caught it without difficulty as she emerged from the holding pen. Wrex moved in close, as if to shield her.. but the female just brushed him off irritably.

"I can handle myself, Wrex."

"Women." warlord murmured before he raised his voice, as if to announce; "We'll head out once Gaalsarc Usorc gets here and gives us the all-clear. Till then, we hold here."

* * *

The entirety of the cargo hold of the recently acquired salarian – yet unnamed - freighter Wrex came with was abuzz with activity as its krogan crew readied themselves. They had just received the message from the warlord; a call for immediate backup. And the battlemasters on board prepared themselves accordingly.

The gargantuan Gaalsarc Usorc stomped to where his shuttle stood waiting with a dangerous calm befitting an ancient warrior such as him. Most of his krantt, loyal brothers in arms, had already assembled and just waiting for him.

Across the hold, shuttle engines hummed to life at their pilots behests.. A total of ten shuttles were required to carry the whole band. But out of the corner of his eyes, three craft lifted off the deck, only to come crashing down – much to the crews' immense irritation.

Mechanics rushed in to the apparently wing-clipped shuttles, opened panels and dug into the intricate machinery within. Battlemaster Quash Tosc launched himself from one of the downed shuttles and began to shout at his mechanics, all of which did their best to ignore him as they hurried to find out what happened. Those shuttles contained Tosc and his krantt.. and half of Asul's.

Disconcerted, Usorc veered off his intended path and lumbered over to the closest mechanic, "What is wrong?" he shouted.

"Do you not have eyes?" the mechanic frowned, "Get off my back."

Anyone else would have gotten a shotgun to the face for such disrespect. But in a culture dominated by warriors, mechanics who keep the war machine running are valued resources. "Tell me." he ordered with the kind of even voice that often shocked overly eager young warriors back in line, in fear of an explosion upon failure to comply.

"... Something's wrong with the element zero core from what I can tell. Shorted out in the middle of take-off. Rotten timing."

"Finish the repairs, and do it fast.." Usorc grumbled, and turned to move on the rest of his way to his own shuttle. _Odd. We tested those things just days ago... something smells. But then, ill fortune has been part of daily routine for our people for many centuries. But no matter, we'll make this work._

Usorc climbed on board the shuttle, and hailed everyone else through an open channel from its cockpit, "Warriors. Comrades. Brothers. A new era awaits our people, and stands before us now. Let's go and claim it!"

An enthusiastic clamor responded him, and within the next minutes the functional shuttles filed out of the narrow cargo hold exit and made a beeline for Sur'Kesh.

"Battlemaster. We are not at full strength." one among his krantt uttered with a grunt.

The old krogan regarded him with a shrug, "The battlefield does not care to wait. We'll make do with what we got." _And hope our fortune's not in too cranky a mood._

* * *

Hinata groaned inwardly as she brought yet another building down... while still inside it. But though the upper floors collapsed on her, she broke through them with little difficulty.

With a leap, she broke out of the rubble, and landed at the bottom of another of this place's many valleys, trampling some of the foliage underfoot while the rest caught fire from her very presence. Her movements slowing down as she fought for control. The Hyuga managed to maintain it, if just barely. But sometimes, she slipped... which allowed the more primitive urges of the tailed beasts to get out till she subdue them again.

The time it took was enough for the Cerberus troops to regroup and form a lazy circle around and above her, upon hills and nearby buildings with a commanding view. By now, they had successfully lured her to the outer perimeter... though only after losing large numbers of soldiers and equipment.

Hinata watched them all with her byakugan. Several more ATLAS mechs were deployed from orbit, making the ground shake as they landed. Above, additional shuttles rushed in to drop troops to reinforce their position.

_C-come on... give up already..._

Even she had to admit this was an irritating situation. Controlling two beasts had so far not only proved difficult... but very taxing. She wanted no more than to unwrap the cloaks and take a real breather. As long as Cerberus keeps this up though, she had no choice but to weather the continued attacks and respond accordingly.

Tiny discs landed into the soil around her, and detonated in a series of what sounded like dull thuds to her. Grenades designed for light vehicles... but against her, they might as well had used spitballs. Hinata remained stationary while the rest of the grenades went off harmlessly. A downpour of solid projectiles followed promptly, and hammered the Jinchuriki from all sides. Except, one of the enemy fire-teams suddenly went silent... Hidan and Kurotsuchi had taken care of them as a token of aid. Though they otherwise remained at a distance.

To think Hidan could move about that silently...

But then, with this much noise.. he could charge around yee-hawing at everything that moves and still be easily ignored.

"Ha-!" Hinata cried out - which was instantly converted into a bellow by the cloak - and thrust an arm forward, Vacuum palm! The squad she targeted vanished in a cloud of dirt as the landscape around them was overturned by the blow, followed quickly by two more. One ATLAS took the brunt of it.. the blast caved in its cockpit and crushed the pilot inside.

_Please call for a retreat..._ she inwardly begged as the ring of troops collapsed by the sheer force of her counterattacks.

One arriving shuttle caught a starboard blow, and was sent spiraling out of control to the detriment of everyone inside.

Another squad tried to fight back despite the amount of force, but were crushed as the land itself was overturned by the girl's retaliatory strikes.

In most ways, this was like trying to fight back against a natural disaster. Yet the Cerberus troops did not falter. A few uttered a baffled "Holy shit!" and "What?!" but none retreated. No one ran. Depending on the culture of onlookers, such behavior would either be described as incredibly stupid, or incredibly brave. But they were brainwashed... they had no choice in the matter. "Ready!" one shouted from far away, and fired a laser at her. At first, the cloaked girl winced. But the laser was harmless.

It only took a few seconds for her to process what the laser was there for. She had already taken part in the usage of one on Menae. Above, twin lights pierced the clouds and rushed down at her... and upon impact, changed the terrain in an instant. Nearby buildings were blown away, including the troops that manned the area. Cerberus had just sacrificed a lot of men simply so they could hit her with an orbital strike... or it was a desperate measure since nothing else seemed to work.

Still, if one thing horrified Hinata... it was orbital bombardments. It made her blood run cold. The Jinchuriki recovered from the blow, but convulsed and let out an animalistic yell.

With this much power... previously, she didn't dare to use a Bijudama. But now, she ejected massive amounts of chakra from the cloak, enough to sacrifice two of the wings, and coalesced it all together before her maw. A blackened ball took shape, part of which stretched away from her as she fired it in the form of a narrow beam.

At first, it was aimed at the horizon... but the girl tilted her head several degrees and swung the beam up across the heavens. She peered into the sky, in the direction those shots came from, and – with anger in her mind – stared beyond it, straining her eyes in so doing. But there she saw it.. with this power, she could see it. A tiny grain in the space beyond the sky. But she aimed for it, furiously. It was already on the move... but that wouldn't save it. Not today. _You won't escape-!_

* * *

"The second fleet has been mobilized, and is currently inbound, Jeff. Contact in twenty minutes."

"_Twenty minutes_?" Joker uttered through gritted teeth as he continued to put the Normandy through wild maneuvers. Dodging incoming gunfire from the swarm of fighters still pursuing them by behaving as though the Normandy's one too. It took almost all of his concentration to not loose control, "Might as well say _never_."

Garrus did not lose a single opportunity to let it rip with the ship's GUARDIAN lasers though, so they weren't in any way unable to respond to the continuous aggression. Another fighter caught fire as it took a laser bolt to the side and veered out of sight. It was progress, but only the third unit out of the fight till now. A triumph shout filled the intercom, to celebrate the kill; "Got another one!"

"Yes, Garrus. Yes you did." the pilot managed to murmur, and pulled the light-cruiser into another turn. The face of the planet now above the canopy.

"Massive energy-buildup detected. Brace."

The AI's warning cry caused Joker to look about frantically... until he saw it. Everyone with eyes and a canopy to look through could see it. A beam of energy suddenly punched through the clouds in a highly unexpected direction... till it moved, and left a continuous open trail in its wake... splitting every cloud in half as it advanced, swung like it was part of the biggest lightsaber in the universe.

And it was moving straight from the Cerberus cruiser that had left formation to bombard the STG base – though EDI said the bombardment landed far enough away from Shepard's location as to cause zero harm. The cruiser in question tilted away, and fed powers to its engine. But too late.

The unbelievable 'blade' arrived at the ship... and passed through like it wasn't there at all. For a few seconds, it looked unharmed, till fully half of it fell off with agonizing slowness. The hind-quarters of the ship continued onward, its engines heeding orders from the bridge that was no longer there.

"Cool-!" Joker whistled with boyish glee. There was no question asked as to where that beam came from... there was no need to. Instead, as the Cerberus flotilla was quite literally cut down by one third, EDI addressed him:

"I have detected a number of shuttles with krogan call-signs. Enemy fighters are inbound on their location."

"Never a dull moment." with its target down, the beam winked out. If anyone had arrived right now, they would have seen the quite unique trail in the clouds of Sur'Kesh and wondered how such a thing came about.

Joker gently jerked at the controls, and relished the opportunity to get a few easy targets as he threw the Normandy around to face the hostiles EDI just highlighted, and raced in to pursue and destroy.

Between him and the krogan shuttles – why they're coming, he had no idea... but it must be Wrex's doing – a fair screen of the small craft flew. Joker had EDI come up with firing solutions for Garrus, who readied the Normandy's main guns accordingly. She soon provided Joker with a 'tunnel' to fly through, the end of it slightly ahead of the fighter furthest to the rear of the squadron up ahead.

Doing that with pursuers on one's ass is easier said than done. But Joker came up with a way, and continuously made the ship sway side to side.. and slipped right into the tunnel at the last moment, followed by a rapt thud as the guns fired. Their target disintegrated nicely after several seconds of travel-time. This process was repeated till the shuttles slipped into Sur'Kesh's atmosphere along with a single remaining pursuer – at which point Joker was forced to break off.

"Sorry about that..." Joker muttered before the ship shuddered around him. A few shots fired by those behind managed to land.. though the shield bounced off most of what would otherwise had been a decisive crippling blow. He cursed his moment of forgetfulness and maneuvered to dodge the next volley. "Okay, anyone out there ready to get those things off _my_ back?" he asked no one in particular.

At the lack of answers, he continued; "Figures..."

* * *

"Is it over?"

Kurotsuchi groaned the question as she opened up the rock dome she made to protect Hidan and herself when bombardment was imminent. And surfaced to see a drastically changed landscape.

Nearby ziggurats had been torn down. All of the plants in the area appeared to be gone... with a huge crater where the valley used to be. The cloaked Hinata still present, apparently unharmed, at the bottom of it - Two of the cloak's wings had disappeared however.

The only life to be found otherwise was a diminished number of ATLAS mechs shoveling their way out of the rubble along with the very little that remained of the soldiers. How they survived, she wasn't sure. But they had come out, wounded and otherwise, and prepared to resume the fight.

"You've got to be kidding me—-!" Hidan cried out at the futile resistance. "We got one enemy – Reapers! If you can hear me, shit-for-brains Illusive fucker-" he was more than eager to continue, but the closest ATLAS turned and fired, which forced him to duck, "Shit!"

The woman followed suit, "I doubt they want to sit and have a civil chat with you."

"Oh yeah? I hadn't notic-"

He was interrupted yet again, as shuttle after shuttle suddenly screeched past overhead. None of which looked like they came from Cerberus. She counted at least six... a seventh flew in, but was shot down and crashed into the nearby ruins... followed by what was left of a fighter - probably what shot down the aforementioned shuttle - when Hinata blew it out of the sky.

But as the remaining shuttles continued on their way, Kurotsuchi could just barely see two of them shudder... though neither went down.

* * *

Ursoc exhaled in relief as his shuttle finally landed, "Go!" he shouted. The hatch reeled open and his krantt leaped out onto the landing pad. Followed quickly by the others as what remained of their force managed to land.

He did a rapid head-count: Asul, Avenk, Suruk. Everyone's here but Tosc, his force and half of Asul's. That had to do.

It was quickly apparent that there are no enemies in sight. Nor could he smell nor hear any. Only the distant sound of the strange battle they passed on the way.

The elevator referred to in the message sent by Wrex should be nearby, and he soon found it at the far end. But... it had been destroyed on this end. No choice then, "Warlord." he radioed Wrex. "Coast is clear, but the elevator's down-"

* * *

As Ursorc communicated with Wrex – Suruk left his craft along with his men. Watching the other battlemasters almost warily.

It only took a few moments before Usorc got new instructions and hollered to the rest; "Come on you punch of pyjaks. They've got another way out, and we're gonna meet them right there. Move out!"

Following the ancient krogan's orders, the mass of warriors moved as one.. away from the elevator, and to the terrace straight below them.

But Suruk did not follow. Instead, he and his soldiers wandered across the platform to the shuttle that belonged to Avenk. "Coast is clear, come out." he demanded gruffly.

He did not even wince as the hatch opened and revealed the aftermath of what had taken place inside. Its entire krogan crew dead.. including battlemaster Avenk himself. In their stead, a pair of Phantoms stepped out as their cloaking fields faded. The lead one gave Suruk a nod.

Satisfied, Suruk fished up an orb from his pocket, and had it float into the air as it built up an image around itself.. one of a certain well-dressed man with synthetic eyes, "Good work so far." the Illusive man hummed elegantly.

The visages of the battlemaster and the surrounding krantt glimmered in the sharp light and faded, revealing a full squadron of operatives. Equipped with the flawed – but modified and stabilized – chakra armor Cerberus built when the Zeus project was still active, powered by stolen batteries. Useless for most things... but excellent for transformation techniques. Thanks to those, his operatives had managed to walk among the krogan undetected. And allowed them to impersonate the deceased battlemaster Suruk and his krantt without a problem.

"Krogan force has been reduced as much as possible. Tosc and Avenk will no longer pose a problem. Ready for further orders."

"A conventional approach doesn't work on Shepard, especially not with kalinin support. Now, we hit them from both outside, and within. Initiate our reserve plan. Go."

"Proceeding with mission." the head operative replied just as Ursoc radioed him. With a click, he transformed back into Suruk as he responded... to which his subordinates followed suit. "Shut up, we are coming. Avenk insisted on serving as rearguard. Huh. More glory for us."

As the squad of krogan impersonators ran to follow the rest.. the Illusive man made a single gesture before the image vanished, which left the orb to fall right into the outstretched hand of the Phantom.

Above her, several shuttles flew in low and dropped off troops in large numbers... along with a number of Orcus mechs. They all swarmed across the landing pad, poised to overrun the entire structure itself in preparation for the pincer attack – essentially their Plan-B – structured to kill off the krogan people's last hope.. and Shepard.

* * *

**Author notes: **Considered showing how things are going back on the Lance of the Six Paths as Naruto helps those trying to train in preparation for the daunting task of wielding the tailed beasts' power. But it'll have to wait till next chapter.

Just to note, for those worried that Hinata's getting more powerful than Naruto, this power-up is from using the power of one additional tailed beast. Nothing stops Naruto from putting a suit on to do the same. Hinata might have a better aim (Logical because of her byakugan) but in terms of sheer raw power, Naruto's still the stronger of the two.


	57. Chapter 57

**Chapter 57**

* * *

The Illusive man watched the ongoing operation on Sur'Kesh with great scrutiny. Data kept pouring in ceaselessly. List of casualties, percentage of facility taken and lost, status of the small flotilla. Next to him stood Elena, who had become something of a replacement of Miranda since the latter left the organization and went underground.

"Beta company won't last for much longer." she confirmed, "Over ninety percent of our personnel down there trying to keep the kalinin busy have been eradicated. We were somewhat prepared for intervention by those wielding tailed beasts, but somehow this one's strong beyond the data we've gathered on them."

"As long as Alpha and Charlie manage to kill their targets, the rest is not an issue. Without the female, the krogan will not join the fight. And without Shepard, establishing a unified front against the reapers will be next to impossible – giving us more than enough time to find a way to take control of them. And once we got the reapers, we can subdue the kalinin and reinstate the Zeus project at our leisure."

"Shall I tell the flotilla to withdraw?"

"Do it. It's far more valuable to us than the troops ground-side."

Elena nodded in the affirmative and stepped forward to give the orders.

Being as satisfied as he could be – given the situation – the Illusive man sat back on his chair, and retrieved the glass of wine. Contemplating as he kept an eye on the ceaselessly incoming data from the battle.

Cerberus had taken serious damage earlier, but he had abundant assets - both secret and non - remote enough to avoid destruction by the council fleet. Combined with faithful donors, and certain other things, getting his organization back on his feet and make it stronger than ever before was relatively easy.

With the Zeus project destroyed, he had personnel move to salvage what little could be found. Including that within the ruins on Klencory – where salvage teams managed to gather what was left of the armor pieces lost there, despite how flawed they were.

Despite the crippling blow, Cerberus still possessed a viable fleet, which he used to steal a whole cargo of chakra batteries produced by Oroc Corporation. And with those, Cerberus finally managed to produce Chakra armor of their own.

But with the kalinin on the field, the suits were adjusted for infiltration-purposes, with such low emissions that the suits don't trigger all but the most sensitive and thorough sensors.

The crowning test that proved the usefulness of the new suit occurred during the time when the Reapers were en route to Earth, on Arcturus station. Beforehand, a small group of infiltrators got in, assassinated a Captain and many of his crew. Impersonated them. After which they commandeered and exfiltrated with the SSV Colley during the chaos, the very carrier now leaving Sur'Kesh's orbit.

Modifications were carried out, and it became the galaxy's first Stealth Carrier.

The plan now, is to replicate that success in as many places as possible. From common soldiers, and civilians in notable positions, to generals and politicians.

In the world as it is now, brute force alone won't help him achieve his goals. Subterfuge, on the other hand... will hand him the galaxy.

Of course, there will continue to be places where military force need to be applied. With industrialized brainwashing and huskification within the base at Sanctuary, helped by streams of refugees, Cerberus is now in the possession of a steadily growing army of obedient slave soldiers – ready to deploy anywhere at a moment's notice.

The Illusive man's triumphant train of thought ended as Elena turned to address him, "Beta company has been destroyed. I got one suggestion that might improve Alpha company's and Charlie team's chances."

"Impress me."

Elena nodded, "An all-out attack. Once Charlie team makes contact, I recommend all forces get in as close as possible. To sow chaos, and buy time to accomplish the objectives. The kalinin won't deploy their powers hopefully, in fear of inflicting collateral damage on their allies."

He dipped his head approvingly, "Make it happen."

* * *

Kurotsuchi took a long look at the devastation around them. It hadn't even been that long since they landed.. But the same could be said for a whole lot of other locations. So many she did not feel compelled to count.

"Hope they won't send us the reconstruction bill." Hidan grimaced as he beheld the same sight, his gaze lingering on a terrace of a nearby ziggurat that practically kept a gun to the lower terrace's head with its threat to break and come crashing down.

_Hope they don't remember to send us all the bills from all the places we've been at._

Ahead, just past a badly beaten hill, they found Hinata's dual-cloaked form standing atop the last Atlas in sight – itself almost completely pulverized by the empowered Jinchuriki. Her solemn gaze fixed on the sky – as if to stare down the gods themselves.

Kurotsuchi attempted to address the girl cautiously, prepared to leap away if the beasts are more in control than the Hyuga; "Hinata?"

But fortunately: "Y-yes... I can hear you..."

"I think that was all of them. You can disengage the cloak now."

Hinata squirmed, a movement that made the towering demonic form look awkward, "I.. I would if I could." she whispered, "Can't close either one. Trying, but can't think clearly. So tired I just want to lie down and sleep..."

_Oof, that doesn't sound good._ "How about the brute force method? Spend till the cloak disperse?"

The Hyuga partially turned, and gave a slight nod, "C-can try... Just one question... is there anyone in the direction I'm facing right now?"

"Can't you tell?"

"N-no..."

Temporary blindness? What inconvenience... folks from the Hyuga clan are so dependent on their exceptional eye-sight that this must be uncomfortable as all gets out... "None I can see. Not sure what's beyond the horizon though."

"As long as I don't risk hitting the others." Hinata said and lumbered forward onto solid ground.

Kurotsuchi watched as the Jinchuriki dug the cloak's claws into the ground before she turned to Hidan, "Speaking of the others – Darling. Could you stay here and watch over her while I go to check on Shepard."

Hidan did not look entirely comfortable with the idea of being away from her, but crossed his arms and accepted it despite the reluctance, "A little bit of babysitting? Alright. But don't you go and get yourself hurt on me now."

"I won't." she assured him, and left with a powerful leap. Hidan sat on his haunches and watched as Hinata began to amass chakra from the cloak in extremely vast quantities. However she planned to spend so much of it... he had a creeping suspicion that the end result will be one hell of a big bang.

* * *

Along the far side of a certain far-away ziggurat, a door tried to open, but only spat a shower of sparks upon its failure to comply. Until it was brutally blown out, flew across the passage ahead, and vaulted over the railing. In its wake, a full group surfaced.

"Very elegant, Wrex." Eve muttered and shrugged in resignation.

The Chief of Urdnot's reply was prompt and casual; "Shut up. We're outside at least."

_They're bickering like a married couple already.._ Shepard thought with a roll of his eyes as he took point alongside Wrex, with Javik backing them up from behind. Eve and the salarians furthest in the back.

"Gotten word." Padok said, "Captain Kirrahe is rallying survivors. They will meet us along the way."

"Captain Kirrahe is here?"

"Doesn't matter." Wrex interrupted them, "Usorc and company will join up soon enough. Ain't no need for more lizards."

Naturally, Shepard played the diplomat; "We'll accept all the help we can get. Who knows what Cerberus might have waiting for us."

None really expected the sight that awaited them when they got to the railing, and looked upon a radically changed landscape, "Did someone transplant this place over to Tuchanka while we were down there? Convenient, if that's the case." Wrex commented with a shrug.

"Well..." Padok said as he peered blankly at what the place had turned into, "Now I won't have to pester the janitor anymore to remove that tree outside my office. It's probably gone now... along with the office, the building it was in, and the ground it used to stand on. Huh."

"Real piece of work, those kalinin, Shepard. Nice redecoration."

Shepard just barely acknowledged him as a message from Cortez came through, "No time to chat. Cerberus just deployed more troops. They'll catch up to our krogan reinforcements in no time." With a gesture, he made the group ready to continue; "Let's move!"

"Right behind you."

They proceeded through what was left of the labs on this level, the sound of gunfire once again echoing throughout the hills – as if the war had taken a siesta. It began with a few scattered shots, but quickly grew in sheer volume.

"Is there no other way?"

Mordin shook his head, "Negative. Only path available straight ahead. Alternative routes damaged or blocked."

Shepard ducked as they arrived at the battlefield, just around the next couple of corners, covering a whole terrace section from end to end. Krogan and Cerberus alike using every inch of available cover. The latter force – contrary to all common sense – tried to close in. He was about to hand out orders, specifically for Wrex, Mordin and Padok to stay in the rear with Eve while he and Javik would move in to assist. But he got another message from Cortez along the way, whose shuttle shot past overhead... with two enemy shuttles in hot pursuit. _Damn it..._ "They're coming at us from the rear. Wrex, we need a wall around Eve now!"

Wrex made an affirmative grunt, "Not a problem."

* * *

Usorc ducked in the face of yet another volley, his shotgun raised above his head to return fire – if blindly. This assault was too sudden for comfort, what the hell was their self-appointed rearguard doing?! "Damn it, Avenk. Respond!"

"The pyjak's probably dead." Asul scoffed as he tossed a grenade over his shoulder, none fell in the explosion that followed, but it bought time to return fire, which their respective krantts were more than willing to exploit.

"Just our..." the ancient one stopped mid-sentence to listen to a message that just came in from Wrex, "Great. Asul, take your krantt to the rear. Our esteemed leader & company are coming our way, with Cerberus hot on their tail. Give them some cover."

"Right." Asul grunted, waved for his comrades and hurled himself out of sight.

Usorc looked over his piece of cover as the amount of fire coming his way slackened, and found out why, as a group of nimble troopers armed with swords and pistols rushed the krogan line – deftly dodging fire as they came closer – and vaulted into the closest group, followed quickly by grunts and howls as the phantoms cut through them with their monomolecular blades. Three of his comrades fell before they could even fight back. Once done, the phantoms proceeded to split up. Two of them coming his way.

Over a thousand years of combat experience, and only two of the nimble assassins bore down on him. Usorc decided to take it as a personal insult, and rose up from cover to confront them. And faster than they anticipated, he levied a blast from his shotgun straight into the closest one's face as he charged and built up speed, which almost turned the target's upper body into fine mist. He then slammed into the other with all of his strength. Despite augmentations, the challenger crashed to the floor in a broken heap – ribcage shattered.

"Gang up! Pin 'em and crush 'em! The rest of you, guns forward!" he roared as he found that – in the middle of the confusion – the entirety of the troops in their way now charged as if eager to get into fisticuffs. Only a few more seconds, and this would turn into a full melee, "Bayonets!"

* * *

Wrex cursed under his breath for, perhaps, the hundredth time these last few minutes as he shot down another trooper. He and most of his troops at this location were armed with Graal spike throwers, overkill for anything smaller than thresher maws – without even counting the optional jagged bayonets many of the warriors carried in compartments of their armor, which those who could already fastened onto the barrels.

"All-out brawl. Problematic." Mordin cried out as he guided Eve to the back of the small lab on the side of the terrace, out of the thickest parts of the ongoing fight. The female did not protest at all, and let the salarians alongside her stay close, much to the warlord's mild chagrin. That Padok fellow on the other hand actively communicated with the Captain Kirrahe he referred to earlier, directing them to the battle – with the mention of sniper support. Gesturing at the broken ziggurat in the distance – good vantage point he called it.

Asul's struggling to the right, Usorc to the left.. and Suruk somewhere in the middle – with a lot of Cerberus troops filling the gaps. They got the numbers and technology on their side, but sheer resilience and firepower gave the krogan battlemasters and their krantts a strong advantage of their own.

"Shepard, here!" he shouted at the commander as he entered the lab, gunning down troopers along the way. The prothean nowhere to be seen. But the important thing was to protect the female... and he dared not take his eyes off her for too long, no matter how much she trusted those lizards.

A gunshot rang out behind him... which made Wrex whirl around – expecting the worst – with a curse on his tongue. He feared those lizards had betrayed Eve's trust, but instead – what he saw, was the crumpled corpse of a phantom, shot down by Mordin, who stood there with pistol held high. "Cerberus troops with stealth camouflage. Exercise caution." the old salarian stated curtly before he lowered himself back down into cover.

"Hmph, good eyes pyjak." he might just learn to trust _that_ lizard yet, maybe. Wrex kicked a desk over and took up position behind it – bravado was no substitute for half-decent cover.

But it took no time at all before another shot rang out, this time the discharge of a shotgun that rocked the air behind him – followed by a violent tremor beneath him. Both made the old krogan blur into motion, and found, much to his surprise that the table had been surrounded by a tall wall – courtesy of Shepard, who followed it up with an attempted attack on the krogan who fired that shot with lethal intent. A _krogan_ of all people in the universe. Wrex could barely even believe his own eyes.

Target obscured and cover blown, the traitor snorted, fled and disappeared from sight before the commander could bring the asshole down.

"Usorc!" Wrex had just opened a link with the fellow battlemaster, and seethed with rage as he roared, "We got a traitor in our midst. Deal with it!" and turned to Shepard, "Damned good timing. Could have lost her right then and there, if not for you..."

"Just happy to help, Wrex.." Shepard sighed, his OCA practically glowed from the use he put it through – which secured Eve even further, "... So there are krogan in cohorts with Cerberus. Guess that's one of the reasons why they were able to launch such an assault so quickly... but why? That's what I want to know."

But it was no time to wonder as a bunch of Orcus mechs – more advanced versions of the YMIR – bashed their way into the lab, through the few that stood in their way. The synthetics, without hesitation, showered their cover with rapid gunfire. Wrex and his old friend had enough trouble just trying to keep an eye out for more covert attackers – whenever they'd pop up again – without a synthetic shit-storm bearing down on them.

"Do I look like I know? I hand-picked these people. That _any_ of them would turn on our own people... Bastards."

"There's got to be something more to this..." Shepard itched to answer the sustained fire with his own, but was kept down, "But for now... we need further assistance." He pressed his earpiece and called out; "Javik, where are you?"

While the call was being made, Padok messaged him; "Commander. Captain Kirrahe and his men are almost in position. Please hold out just a little longer."

"I'm trying." he called back, and resumed his call for the missing comrade, "Javik, respond!"

* * *

"I am here, commander." Javik almost huffed in response, his rifle reeking as it cooled down from the sustained use he put it through, "What is it?"

"We're at the back of the lab. Need support."

"Can you hold?"

"For now, but you're welcome to join in anytime."

"Acknowledged." the prothean hefted himself into a crouch, about to make a beeline for the closest lab he could make out. But it was a crowded battlefield, and he had to cannonball himself past several along the way, and shoved away any that strayed too close. The only thing that stopped him was a notion of déja vu.

He had just shoved away at another krogan, when a recognizable, if extremely sedate version of the hurricane he witnessed while in contact with Ino, surrounded him. Even after having experienced it a couple of times, it was still annoyingly profound and bizarre. But a reaction from him, it got. No krogan got OCA, neither do their bodies produce Chakra. It was suspicious to say the least.

"Any abnormalities, commander?" was the question, link still open.

"There are phantoms out there with cloaking devices, and a krogan just tried to kill Eve."

A traitor then. Vermin like that, he could handle. And he had a creeping suspicion this krogan he touched was it. Javik turned on his heel, and was just barely able to see the perceived enemy as it turned to him – weapon raised. Perhaps it had figured out its cover was blown for real this time.

But the prothean was ready, and pulled the trigger. A cough exploded from the enemy combatant as he blew a hole through its chest. Fatally wounded, it collapsed to the floor instantly... during which the form fizzled out. The image of the krogan faded away, and was replaced by the visage of a human in Cerberus-marked armor.

"Not krogan. Infiltrator." he observed.

"What? How did you find him?"

"Through touch." Javik stated simply. "I apologize, but I shall venture forth and slay any more of these I can find. Our chances of success will be much greater if we remove them."

The commander paused, the noise of heavy fire over the com intensified for a moment, "Do it, but be careful."

"Acknowledged." He found himself able to take some pride in this. This task, he could do.

It was made easier because the infiltrators did not expect anyone to detect them in such a way. Aware that they would pull away to avoid discovery, he ran from cover to cover, as if trying to get someplace else – and clapped a hand at the armor of any krogan along the way. Made even easier – as morbid as it may sound – because nearly half the combatants had been killed in the enormous crossfire so far. Corpses littered the floor. It lowered the number he had to get in contact with. The first three were perfectly normal, but the fourth one... he noticed the faint hurricane again, and put a beam through the infiltrator without hesitation before moving on. Any shouts of outrage from nearby krogan silenced as soon as the new corpse turned into a human.

Any more he found along the way, he killed – while killing any other target of opportunity that got in his way. Methodical and swift. But eventually, Cerberus noticed that their operatives are getting picked off, and halfway through the terrace, while behind a pillar, he noticed a faint movement in the corner of his eyes, a faint blur, as if the air itself moved with a mind of its own. Anticipating an attack, Javik threw himself to the side, just in time as something sharp cut deeply into the pillar where he used to be.

"Have you come to assassinate me?"

The question was directed to both the invisible assailant he was already aware of... and another one who appeared to circle around him. Phantoms, fitting. He fully expected the latter to attack first – while the former try to keep his attention fixed to the fore. A trick that would've won out against most recruits... but against a seasoned veteran that has experienced situations like this many times, it was simple to see through. The moment he could hear the faintest move from the one behind, an abrupt series of footsteps, the sound of a blade that carved through the air itself, it was almost music in itself as time seemed to slow.

At this, he turned with all the speed he could muster. This duel would be decided in a mere second. Aware that the sword may be able to carve straight through his weapon, he did not try to block it... instead, he swung it through the air – aimed at that tiny sheen that appeared for the tiniest split millisecond – and parried the weapon by striking it from the side, which threw it way off target. And then, followed it up by grabbing his opponent's wrist and – with a twist – broke it, took the sword as it dropped from the assassin's hand, turned it, and cut diagonally through the air.. right across the assailant's chest. An effort awarded by an explosive gasp as the phantom became visible, and collapsed.. with a deep cut across her chest.

It all happened so fast. To him, it was like an eternity. But to anyone else that might be watching, it looked almost instantaneous.

One down, he turned back and brought the newly claimed sword with him, and sliced through the air in a wide arc until he was rewarded for his effort by another cry of pain and a rain of blood as the second phantom fell and died, nearly sliced in half.

Adrenaline rode him. It was almost a narcotic feeling, a sort of grim delight coursed through his form as he escaped from what could had easily been his final moment. He felt alive, _seriously alive_. But senseless, it did not make him. The first chance he got, he lowered himself back into cover, just as a bunch of troopers came and tried to do what the phantoms could not... till the heads of all three closest to him exploded.

Javik looked to where the shots came from, and saw the line of snipers dotting the ruins above their positions. "So, the lizards finally came around..." _Might as well use them..._

He pushed himself away from his piece of cover and continued his task to root out the rest of those infiltrators, if there are more of them out there.

* * *

"This will be decided here and now, hold the line."

Kirrahe always delivered them in a slow dramatic tone... or it wouldn't had had the desired effect. The girl that appeared earlier gave him enough of a lucky break to marshal the few teams that were left, and prepared a counterattack accordingly.

He looked to his men as they lined up across the ruins, a smattering of a mere eight STG agents, but armed for _almost_ any opposition. And this place was an excellent vantage point, just as he was told;_ Good job there, Padok._

The opening shots had already been made, felling Cerberus troops to the left and right across the terrace below. His men firing as quickly as they could aim and reload their sniper rifles.

Focusing on his own shooting, Kirrahe's sight rested on the strange four-eyed being, who turned to look in his direction for a moment, gestured to himself, and then resumed his run. _So you want me to follow you? Alright then..._

Javik dashed across the area with a loping gait, because of all the bodies lying around, and placed his hand firmly against the back of a krogan... then proceeded to shoot a hole through it. The question of why the alien would do that died on his tongue as the krogan body turned into that of a human. _Cerberus can do that?!_ Kirrahe felt a slight heart-ache on the behalf of all the STG. What happened to the niche his people had filled for the last few thousand years?

A sigh was suppressed in favor of keeping the alien backed up, and shot at any troopers that tried to intervene. All the while, the ruins around him shook as what remained of Cerberus' airborne force strafed his group's positions. Just a few shuttles... but that in itself is a problem, he got no AA ordnance to use. Against this assault, he and his men were essentially defenseless. That is, until another shuttle – with the emblem of the Alliance - swept in and shot down one of the Cerberus-aligned shuttles, then quickly another one.

Under this attack, the remaining pair of shuttles broke off to pursue. It was rare to see shuttles engage in dogfights, but it was appreciated. Very much so.

From there, it was relatively smooth sailing. Except three of his men fell as enemy raptors discovered where the sniper attacks were coming from, so now it turned into a protracted sniper battle, while the krogan fought the conventional one, while the alien did the clean-up of the more covert elements.. however he managed to find those.

But they now had Cerberus on their ropes. Now all they needed, is a solid checkmate – as the humans put it.

* * *

And it came in the form of Kurotsuchi as she finally arrived, landing upon a rail at the very edge of a shrinking battlefield after the rough trip through the utterly decimated base – guided here by the sound of near-constant gunfire. With a whole lot of dead all around, many of them krogan.

"Did I miss something here?" she asked before any of the combatants even became aware of her presence, "Never mind, best clear this place." Kurotsuchi dropped to the floor, and ducked under the hail of fire that rushed out to greet her. Her palms met as she prepared a suitable counter, "Any of you krogan not interested in getting impaled, get clear! Now!" - "Earth style: Earth flow spears!"

And like a twisted wave, the floor blossomed into a multitude of spikes that tore a bloody swath through both the terrace and the lab. Impaling most of the Cerberus troops along the way, hidden or not, trashed the remaining Orcus mechs, and threw up in the air the krogan that utterly failed to heed her call.

In an instant, most of the remaining enemies were wiped out. Leaving only a few stragglers for the krogan to tear down, while the woman stood up to go and find Shepard – if he's still here.

* * *

Suruk – or Matthiesen, as his real name is, stared distraught at the great loss. Reduced to just himself and two other infiltrators – the others either dead, or will be, very soon.

"Come!" he called hoarsely and led his subordinates through the maze that the place had become, using their disguises to wander undetected – in the hopes that the prothean didn't come by. No one told them that guy could do that, "We must get close and kill the female while we still can..."

His subordinates nodded in the affirmative. Luckily, the huge attack launched by that kalinin had torn the area open in many places. New routes to take, Matthiesen navigated through the rough terrain as guns across the area fell silent. Not much time. But enough of it, as he saw the krogan female emerge from her hiding spot alongside two salarians. There.

"Sir." Charlie six called, "He's here."

Matthiesen threw a glance over his shoulder as the prothean emerged from a clutter of spikes, peering at his surroundings with those piercing quartet of eyes – still on the lookout. And ahead, beyond the female, the krogan warlord and Shepard stood with their backs turned, still on guard. This is the only chance they would get. And so he sped up into a jog, weapon ready.

Javik found the three and approached grimly, "Hold it."

"Keep him busy!" Matthiesen hissed as he broke into a full run. If the prothean truly could see through their disguises, then standing around would do no good. It was now or never!

A clatter of gunfire erupted behind him as the fight ensued, and swiftly ended. He hoped the prothean kicked the bucket here and now. The female saw him, and watched warily – her weapon idle.

_Got you-!_ He roared inwardly as he finally closed the gap, his finger on the trigger. But a piercing pain struck his side as a shadow fell upon him. A small twitch of his gaze revealed it to be Javik, a very annoyed Javik.. _No way... did he kill... all of them?_

Without a word, the prothean raised his rifle and dealt the killing blow.

* * *

"Javik?" Shepard asked as he heard the distinct hum of the alien's pulse rifle go off behind them.. and turned together with everyone else within earshot to see the prothean stand above the broken form of Suruk... till the form dissipated, and revealed that the battlemaster was an impersonator all along.

"Him?!" Wrex exclaimed, displeased with the revelation... "Can't believe that guy got taken down by Cerberus brats of all people."

Javik shrugged, "I have cleared out all I could. There should be no more problem from here on."

"Good job, Javik." Shepard told him with relief, "How did you find out?"

"None of the krogan wear OCA, these did. All it took was a simple touch to confirm it."

The commander crouched down to examine the armor, "Doesn't look like the OCA made by Oroc corporation. But they sort of remind me of the armor I saw worn by Cerberus troops back on Klencory."

"What does it matter?" Wrex scoffed, "If there's any more of them, we'll clear them out. That's all there is to it."

"No, Wrex. If Cerberus is capable of mass producing these things... then we're in deep shit. They'd be capable of going anywhere. Think of what could happen if one of these agents took the dalatrass' place... Cerberus troops with very real governmental powers. This could get ugly very fast..."

The krogan huffed, a little annoyed by that possibility. Food for thought. "Huh."

"Hey, there you are..." Kurotsuchi chimed in as she arrived, "Are you guys done here then?"

Shepard nodded, "Yeah, we just need to get to the landing pad and wait for Cortez. Where is Hidan and Hinata?"

"They'll be with us shortly.. Hinata just need to clear away something first."

"What do you mean?"

* * *

Hidan backed away further and further as it went on, painfully obviously wary of what was going on before him. Hinata groaned miserably as she fell onto her knees... barely able to keep herself on her feet as the orb before her grew even bigger. _S-so heavy..._

It worked. Her cloaks gave away and faded in steps as she fed all of the chakra invested into the bijudama she prepared to launch until only the mask remained. The orb was massive, and the girl visibly fought to keep it directed away from the ground... or this whole area, if not a sizable part of the region, would vanish off the face of the planet.. that much she was sure of.

She pushed herself up with trembling arms, and threw her head back – the orb on the verge of bursting – and finally, after a long pause, let it rip.

The bijudama flew away into the distant sky. Shining like an oversized marble. Hinata sank, close to collapsing where she sat as she stared emptily in the direction she sent the orb – then summoned up yet another orb, made of what little chakra still hovered around her, broke it, and launched it in the form of a beam. The plan to neutralize the big one before it hit something. That is, if she could hit in her current state.

But the explosion that followed was immediate, and momentarily turned the sky blindingly white – the sheer force of the explosion successful in illuminating the heavens across the region and beyond.

Danger averted, Hinata finally fainted.. and was caught by Hidan, who carried her off into cover before the shock wave caused by the blast could reach the surface, and hoped everyone else were wise enough to do the same.

Once there, he carefully hoisted the girl onto his back. So tired she did not even react to stimuli like the powerful wind that proceeded to hammer the area with the force of a hurricane. "Ugh.. so much for an idyllic picnic. Sleep tight, we'll head right back home once this is over. Though I'm not looking forward to it... the old man's gonna rip me a new one, I'm sure."

* * *

"We just lost contact with the ground team. According to what little information we could piece together, it was an abysmal failure." Elena announced as she turned to the Illusive man, "It seems the prothean in Shepard's crew is capable of seeing through the infiltrators' camouflage somehow."

He raised his shoulders slightly, "So it seems. Prepare our contingency plans, whatever the cost, the genophage cure must not be completed. And inform Sanctuary to double the production of troops if at all possible in case Shepard do succeed, we are going to need the extra manpower."

"Of course, sir. Shall I call for Kai Leng as well?"

"Do it."

* * *

Naruto and the rest had not heard of the battle ground side, and assumed everything was going smooth as clockwork. The leaders of their flock especially awaited the results. The orange-clad teen on the other hand paced around the room where a point of truth had been successfully erected. Which was little but runes that covered every wall, floor and ceiling. Nagato, Konan and Onoki sat outside, ready just in case anything happened that Naruto couldn't subdue by himself. So far however, he managed it just fine.

He circled around the group he was in charge of for now: Ino, Tenten and Shikamaru sat on in a line across the room. Eyes closed with deep focus. Each time one of them tensed, Naruto saw fit to utter a hush. This time, he came with a full comment; "Calm down. Don't force yourselves. The dark side of you can't be fought down with brute force. It's just as strong as you are. Got the same techniques, the same tactics, the same tricks. Have faith."

The first to break concentration this time was Shikamaru, who fell and sprawled unceremoniously on the cold floor, "Aw, what a drag..."

"Huh. That is the fourth time.. You okay?" Naruto said as he crouched down by the Nara.

"Aw, don't rub it in..."

"I need to make sure you're in good shape, you know. Being mentally exhausted is a bad thing for this ritual. Take a break if you need one, A's probably itching for another try."

Overall, there was rather little he could do. There is really no 'one method fits all' with peoples' dark side. It's something that builds up across a whole lifetime, and differed from person to person. What he could do was make sure those under his care remain in tip-top shape, and don't overdo it. And counsel them with what little he could offer if they asked for advice. If he needed a reminder of how important his job was, he just needed to think of the old raikage.

He stubbornly refused to rest, and tried to conquer his dark side with brute force until his inevitable mental exhaustion set in – though it sure took a while – when he just kind of snapped. Old A's solutions to most problems revolved around punching the object of said problem into dust. But the dark side punched just as hard.

Shikamaru scratched the back of his head tiredly and nodded, "Yeah, might as well grab one. Arguing with that other me is such a drag..."

Naruto clapped his friend's back as he got up to leave, "Hang in there. You'll get it done eventually."

"Yeah, yeah."

Right then and there, Tenten let out a relieved gasp and almost fell. Her skin covered in sweat, but she was smiling.

"Tenten?" Ino asked, distracted.

"I did it... Investigated the hell out of it, and got it. Ah~ damn, I need a shower."

Naruto was quite surprised, "You really did it?"

"Yeah, no sweat.." the brunette giggled as she forced herself back up, hand waving at her face like it's a fan, "Whew, not counting all that I'm drenched with."

The Uzumaki chuckled and leaned down to help her get up, "Haha, come to think of it.. here I just started to wonder what that smell was."

"Heh heh... I think your face and that wall over there got an appointment."

"Er, I said nothing."

With the Nara gone, A could finally reenter the room.. and did not even raise an eyebrow at the little celebration about Tenten's triumph over the other her as he went straight to where Shikamaru previously sat, and landed himself in a meditative position. For his lack of reaction, the teens stared.

"Okay.." Naruto broke the silence and crouched next to the old raikage, "What set you off that last time?"

A stared into the wall for a prolonged moment before he responded with notable calm; "The other me thought Bee was good at rap, then started to rap himself – so I punched him."

"... Oh."

* * *

**Author note**: And with that, Priority: Sur'Kesh - completed. Not much to say for the moment, maybe I'll edit these notes when something comes to mind.

Thanks for the support thus far, thank you.


	58. Chapter 58

**Chapter 58**

* * *

"I have read your report. What you encountered down there... I can't stress enough of how alarming it is."

It only took a few hours after they left Sur'Kesh for Shepard to finish and send a report regarding what went on to Alliance Command. And Admiral Hackett cut straight to the chase the moment Shepard had gotten to the communications' room and got EDI to open a link.

"Infiltrators capable of impersonating people almost perfectly. I got no idea how far Cerberus has gotten with this, but if a proper countermeasure's not found..."

"... It could hinder our efforts greatly." the admiral finished for him, his expression grave and weary. This was exactly the type of problem he did not want, but had no choice but to accept and challenge head-on. "I will make sure this knowledge gets to the right places. Hopefully something can be done."

"Admiral, has there been any response from the salarian government?"

"They are not pleased to find their STG base reduced to such a state, but they recognize the forces truly at fault here. The salarians aren't among the most militaristic people in the galaxy, but military enrollment in the wake of this most recent incident has spiked sharply."

"That's good to hear, but they should be doing so much more..."

"Do what _can_ be done, that is all we are asking. You're doing a good job out there. Hackett out."

Shepard nodded, and managed to squeeze in a salute before the transmission ended, and left the commander to his own thoughts. "EDI."

"Yes, Shepard?" the AI responded promptly.

"Keep me updated about Tuchanka's situation as it develops."

"Acknowledged. Also, Primarch Victus would like to have a word with you."

"Tell him I'll be with him shortly." the commander said uniformly, and left the room – wondering what the primarch needed to talk about.

* * *

Hinata felt as if she just woke up from the dead as she squirmed. It was the soft bed she noticed first aside from a headache – the former was more than welcome, the latter... not so much. She opened her eyes and watched the ceiling of the Lance of the Six Path's infirmary idly.

_I can see at least... that's something at least._

"Hanging in there, Hinata?"

She sifted her gaze, and looked upon Kakashi who sat next to her bed. "... Think so..." she said quietly after a moment of silence, "W-where's Naruto?"

"Just called for him. He'll be here shortly. Been very busy training the others."

Hinata raised a hand to her forehead, as if it could stop the migraine. Without a word, she nodded.

The door to the infirmary slid open like it had bee kicked in as Naruto arrived, and hurried to her side, "Hinata. You all right?"

"I-I'm fine." the girl raised her shoulders. "Don't worry... how did it go over here?"

Naruto watched her seriously for a moment, then a grin replaced the frown; "Well, where should I start? ...Tenten graduated first."

She raised an eyebrow inquisitively, "She did?"

"Yeah. Did not really pick up how. But I guess she did not have too heavy a turmoil in her mind."

"How's the rest?"

"Ino managed it a while after."

Hinata gave a nod, "Shikamaru?"

"Stuck like a fly on glue." Naruto waved a hand dismissively, "Said his dark side's his polar opposite. He's gonna wrestle with _that_ alone for a while."

She giggled softly, able to get a clear mental image of it, "... A?"

"His is a rap artist who's a fan of Bee. Don't ask. He's tightened up his diplomatic belt and going in for the long haul."

"Temari?"

"Cleared it on first try, though it took her an hour."

"Anyone else?"

"Kakashi tried."

Hinata turned her head, "You did?"

"Yeah.." the Jonin said, "I tried."

"How did it go?"

The man stared at them for a couple of moments, then turned away and scratched the back of his head in an awkward manner. "Not telling."

"Aw, come on!" Naruto whined playfully. "I figure your dark side is the type of guy who doesn't wear a mask... and is actually punctual."

"Oi, that's not fair."

"Oh? Then tell me one time you were punctual back in the day."

Kakashi raised a hand to point out an example, lowered it, then raised it... then lowered it back down, thought about it, then lifted his hand. But hit by another wave of uncertainty, he lowered it back down.

"I rest my case." Naruto rolled his eyes eloquently.

"H-hehe." Hinata sighed, then tried to push herself up, "We b-better get back to our own training."

"Hey, don't force yourself." the boy insisted.

She shook her head. "I do not think we got much time on our hands, Naruto."

"Just a few hours. It'll take days to get to Tuchanka. We should be able to nail it by then."

Hinata closed her eyes and lied back down, only giving in with some reluctance. "Okay then. A few hours..."

Kakashi sat silent for a while, still thinking, until he directed his attention at the girl. His gaze quite severe:

"I'm really that unpunctual?"

She had to fight hard not to laugh.

* * *

The communications' room was pretty busy today. Mei stood at the door with a cup of beverage in hand, observing quietly as Konan went over things with an alien merchant. Shepard had given them permission to draw funds from his account.

"-And we need a small batch of heat sinks. About nine hundred of them at least." Konan described, in her hand hung a data pad which displayed the relevant ware, though it was not wholly required – perhaps the fear of a misunderstanding, it would be no good if they got nine hundred kitchen sinks to throw at the enemy instead due to some error - no matter how remote the possibility.

"Quite many... Any weapons you might be interested in, miss Konan?" the volus merchant offered with a deep breath as he studied what the kunoichi showed him.

Konan shook her head, "We got weapons, thank you. Of course there might be some, but nothing that's on the market. Instead we'll buy..." she browsed and brought up a list of raw materials, describing how much of each she was interested in buying.

"Odd request. How are you planning to build anything?"

"We got someone who'll be able to put it to good use." the woman shrugged.

He nodded slowly, "Fair enough. Would that be all, miss Konan?"

"Actually, there is one more little thing. It's rather important. Vital to the war effort."

The volus leaned slightly closer to the screen with interest, "Go on and tell, don't keep me in suspense."

"I require a package of at least five trillion pieces of paper. All of them A6. And all labeled with this symbol." Konan pulled up one of the few paper bombs she got left and showed it to the merchant, who stood there... completely frozen into place, as if unable to believe his ears.

"H-h-" he stuttered, "-haaaaaaaah?!"

"It sounds rather excessive, but I trust your company will deliver on the goods."

"Uh, w-wait a minute..." the volus tried to interject. Mei swore she could see all color drain off of the alien, suit and all.

"We're all counting on you." Konan continued and dipped her head politely, "Please."

_See that look? That's terror_. Mei watched as the volus struggled with himself for a moment while the office around him seemed to bolt around in wild panic. His eyes directed someplace off-screen, as if to consult with someone before he refocused on the blue-haired kunoichi and performed a masterful resigned sigh. "Y-you got it." before the transmission ended. Konan in turn did a triumphant spin and marched past the mizukage, who chuckled merrily as she followed:

"You sure go big. Shepard's gonna feel _that_ in his wallet for sure."

"So I did." Konan shrugged as she let her smile fade, like one had let go of an overly strained string. Back to her regular frown, though this one bordered on thoughtfulness.

"Gonna try out the point of truth soon?"

"Yes. Heard you tried to clear it by the way."

"Aye, once – after most of the kids graduated from it. But the dark side of mine's one disgruntled bitch." Mei shrugged, though her eyebrows visibly twitched at the thought of the encounter.

"I just hope the new trainees won't damage the ship during their training. It wouldn't do if the ship got blown up by accident."

Mei giggled without worry, "They'll be fine. Naruto's still young, but I hear he's a good teacher."

Konan nodded slowly, "Yes, he showed his skills during the war. By the way..."

"Hm?"

"Why did A request for a Cap?"

"He would not say~."

* * *

Temari shuddered as a massive wave of malevolent chakra coursed through her body, sending a chill unlike any other across the entire length of her spine. It had been two days since their training in handling the powers of a tailed beast started – since the only attempt she needed to get rid of her dark side. The next part she suspected would be hard, but never thought there would be such a sense of animal fear threatening to overtake her.

The Chakra released by the disc inserted into her armor covered her chest, left arm, and head so far in an attempt to form a cloak – and gave her the sensation of being two places at once. In one part, she sat on the floor of the training room where she and the others are practicing by themselves – Naruto being downstairs in the hangar with Hinata. While in the other part, she stood amidst a desert. A featureless landscape with a black sky, till she turned and was faced with a gigantic prison – from which the monstrous Shukaku gave her an ugly glare.

All color drained from her face at the sight, and felt she had just caught a tiny glimpse of the terror Gaara had to live with the whole time the thing spent inside him... and which lingered some time further even after it had been removed. The terror that made sure he never slept in his whole life.

It raised a gigantic limb and placed it against the seemingly fragile prison bars made of sand, and leaned closer.

But before it could finish the motion, the world around her disintegrated like it was nothing.

"Wake up!"

Temari burst awake with a slap thrown across her face. The girl squirmed in confusion till she found Tenten looming over her – the disc containing Shukaku resting in her armored glove.

"W-what happened?"

"Y-you let out too much." Ino said from her spot further away. Her skin covered with sweat as she sat in a meditative position and struggled to control the small amount of blood-red chakra on her chest. Her eyes closed in focus, but filled with concern.

The suna-nin steadied herself, breathing hard to calm herself down. "I'm... I'm sorry..."

"You better be." Tenten glowered at her, "Naruto told us what could happen if we're not careful. Even with our dark side gone, the biju can still overtake the unwary." but soon held the Shukaku's disc out for Temari to retrieve. "Now let's try again, but nothing excessive this time. Okay?"

Temari nodded, and put the disc back in, cautiously releasing but a tiny tendril of the tailed beast's power this time.

Nodding, Tenten returned to her own spot to continue practicing. "Be careful from now, and I'll consider not telling him about this."

"Okay, thank you." This training had its way to make one feel more meek and humble than one would usually be. The fear she now tried to reign in was much like what she felt in Gaara's shadow all those years, fearful of when he'll finally snap and kill her in a fit of rage. With a nervous swallow, she tried to banish such thoughts, and focused on the sample she got out.

_Come on, girl. It's like a fish switching to another aquarium. Get used to the water first, then you're free to swim..._

The mental image solidified as she repeated it like a mantra. And slowly, but surely, it became somewhat easier to handle. Not much, but it's a start... _There we go, just like that._

* * *

Nagato sighed, he had almost launched himself into the training room when he heard the brief commotion inside, but withheld himself at the last moment when it calmed down – then left the girls to it and moved on.

Exhaling, he refocused on the data-pad in his hands. The data it contained is essentially the instruction manual for the JCA. He had a mind to try and contact Kabuto about the complications Hinata encountered, but decided to investigate all possible available information first – and save himself the embarrassment if the solution turned out to be simple.

_There should be something_. Kabuto's many things, but stupid was not one of them. He surely accounted for something like this. Surely.

He browsed to the next page, and momentarily fought down a tiny migraine. So much technical information. Their enemy probably laughed with sinister glee back when he wrote this.

"Having fun?"

Nagato looked up from the data-pad, thankful of the interruption, "Not at all. Done for today, Kisame?"

Kisame smirked wide enough to show off his rows of sharp teeth, "Yep. Hidan's shift now – too bad about that planned picnic between him and Kurotsuchi, but life's a fickle bitch."

"That it is." he agreed.

"Busy trying to see why things went wrong down there?"

Nagato nodded listlessly, "That I am."

"Want me to give it a look-see? I've got a good eye for information."

"Thought that was Itachi's area."

"Heh-heh-heh, cute." Kisame shrugged and raised a hand, "Come on, lemme see."

"I don't see why not." he handed it over with a notable amount of caution, "Just don't break it."

"Hey, you know me... I'm a perfect gentleman."

"So you are."

Kisame read through the data for about a minute before he raised his shoulders, "I've been thinking..."

"What's about?"

"Just maybe, maybe there's nothing wrong with the suit. What if all that's needed is some specific type of exercise? Even if you're good at restraining lone wild oxes, it takes a lot to restrain two wild oxes at once all by yourself."

Nagato was about ready to dismiss that notion, but then it got him thinking. It somehow made sense. "Did anyone ever say you're a genius?"

"On occasion."

"So, what kind of method do _you_ suggest?"

"Want me to come up with a plan? Flattering." Kisame chuckled, "Only thing that comes to mind is let them use the second beast only at first, for short durations, then switch over to both once they get the hang of it – or if the situation requires it."

"That does sound like a plan."

"Uh-huh. And they can do that while fighting on Tuchanka. I've read up on the place, it's mostly a planet-wide wasteland. Plenty of elbow-space."

"And no opportunity before that. Need to keep the ship's safety in mind."

"How far are we from Tuchanka anyway?"

"A couple of more days if nothing gets in the way." Nagato informed, rechecking navigational data through his Asura path. It and every other path serving as bridge personnel for the time being.

"Not long a wait then. One can only hope for it to be sufficient."

"They will be ready.." _Or at least as ready as they can be with so little time_. His gaze drifted to the door for a spell, as if to peer inside. Judging by the calm, he guessed the girls are close to graduating from this part of the training, hopefully – as soon as they can control the demonic chakra as much as they can with their own. The lack of commotion was almost music to his hears... it meant the increase of their group's military strength.

And that strength would soon be tested on Tuchanka.

* * *

Shepard toured through the crew's quarter of the Normandy, amidst the uneasy wait for EDI to bring him the newest update of Tuchanka's situation. He already made plans for what knowledge had been made available at this time.

The most clear-imaged was that which Primarch Victus brought up... a detail about a platoon led by his son, on Tuchanka, for reasons he could not divulge. And then there's the anti-orbital cannons down on the planet's surface. One of which is located in the same region as the rallying point, which made it a hazard – considering there are no krogan crews at its site. Which means other groups could easily take control of it, such as Cerberus. That is, _if_ they make an appearance, which he was sure they will.

About the cure however, Mordin's still working on it... and trying to figure out the best way to deliver it. The main battle plan would be formed around it once the doctor's done.

With a sullen mind, the commander made his way to the infirmary to see if the old salarian has made any progress – and was met with a song well underway.

The first he saw was Wrex, who sat in the distant corner as if trying to hide himself away, a look of apprehension in his eyes directed at the salarian doctor. Eve, as Mordin called her, sat on the bed closest to the office desk to the left – and noted Doctor Chakwas' absence – with much mirthful attention directed at the doctor as he sang without missing a beat even as he continued his work, his voice loud and clear:

"

_-and live and die a krogan queen!"_

_For... she is the krogan queen! Hurrah, hurrah for the krogan queen!_

_And it is a glorious thing, to be the kroooogan queeeeeen!_

"

Eve laughed appreciatively as soon as the song was finished. Mordin merely shrugged, "Still prefer patter songs."

"Of course. I really had to twist your arm."

Struck by silence, Shepard could do little but stand there, until he finally cleared his throat and stepped inside, "I see someones' in high spirits today."

Mordin did not turn, too enraptured with what he was already doing, "Made a promise. Song once the tests were done. Eve grew insistent."

"So you like the song?" he asked of Eve, who nodded in confirmation:

"Of course." her expression grew somewhat more solemn, though it was hard to see with her choice of clothes. "How different would the world be if we hadn't surrendered all power to the males?"

It was a rhetorical question no one had an answer to. Wrex grunted something unintelligible, but otherwise said nothing.

With a shake of his head, Shepard performed a tactical change of subject; "Wrex, are you alright?" he asked with a slightly arced eyebrow.

The old krogan turned away, as if to hide what appeared to be embarrassment.

"Fear of needles." Mordin interjected on Wrex's behalf, though he was annoyed by it. "Now... trying to recover from near-shock."

It was difficult to imagine... "Wrex? You're scared of needles?"

"Shut up..." the krogan muttered under his breath, and turned even further.

"Males always act so tough, to the detriment of everyone else." Eve chuckled deeply. "Any revelation as to ones' weakness is taboo – fiercely denied with claims, threats and excuses."

Wrex growled, but did not protest verbally.

"Commander."

Shepard looked to the projector within the room as EDI's orb-shaped avatar popped into place. "What is it?" he asked.

"I just received the latest piece of intel from the Krogan DMZ, Commander. CDEM reports increased reaper activity."

He noted how Wrex turned back to pay rapt attention; "How much?"

"The analysis is incomplete, but several reaper ships have entered the system. At least one dreadnought so far, and an unknown number of destroyers. Escalation of war within the DMZ is imminent."

"Obviously." Shepard almost snorted.

With a grunt, Wrex pulled himself off the bed, and made his way to the door.

"Heading to the communications' room?"

"Where else?" the krogan said, "I'm gonna do what I can to ready the troops back home. No way am I gonna let those damned tin-cans think they can just head to Tuchanka and take it."

He gave the old krogan a solid nod, and instantly began to formulate a plan – a thought he rejected the subsequent moment. Shepard looked to both the concerned Eve, and Mordin - who still worked - and decided it had to wait till the aging salarian's finished, and all information is on the table.

Victus' son. The cannon. Both are important... but he knew everyone would agree without a doubt; the reapers needed to be dealt with, and fast.

* * *

Many clusters away, a situation had started to develop – on the distant world of Parnack.

Pac, a seasoned warrior in his own right charged through the corridor alongside fellow warriors of his pack as the city around them trembled under the force of a close bombardment. It was only hours after the outer sensory groups had discovered the presence of an alien fleet approaching their world.

The existence of aliens were hardly news to the Yagh – they had come before, and brought with them insulting concepts such as 'equality'. For their insolent behavior, treating them as such, his kind did not hesitate to slaughter the rabble.

And now they had come again, in force this time.

The initial response – once these aliens had entered the gravity well – consisted of a volley of nuclear weaponry, but the alien ships had eluded them. And now they had come to hover over this city.

He brutally forced the upcoming door open and emerged onto the roof of this building. "Hurry, you wretches!" his leader shouted, and a few men got into position and planted down a small artillery piece intended for the enemy above.

Pac spared a single moment to look upon the city, already ablaze. Entire districts had been bombarded to oblivion already – and the ships above... There were only ten of them, but none of them looked like those the past aliens traveled in. These looked more like gigantic creatures, with carapace for hull – seemingly breathing as they belched projectiles at the cityscape below. He gripped a tighter hold of his grenade launcher at the sight. Across the place, Yagh troops struggled to set up defenses, to try and hold off the invaders until the recently-launched armada of aircraft could come to their aid.

"Ready!" one of the artillery-men shouted, his comrades finished loading a shell into the cannon.

Their pack leader growled, all of his eight eyes focused on the closest ship as it flew overhead. He brought a fist on the closest artillery-man for being slow, and gestured roughly at the target above, "Fire!"

On his word, the trigger was pulled, and the roof shuddered as the anti-air cannon shattered the air, and rewarded the pack with a resounding explosion as the launched shell rammed into the ship's underbelly, and opened a large wound to their exhilaration.

"Another!" the pack leader cried out, his triangular maw wide open, spittle raining onto the floor as his men rushed to follow suit while the rest waited for enemy response.

Pac noted observantly that it looked as though the opened wound started to close itself, speed was of the essence here, and his pack leader noticed it too – and had already opened a link to other packs, to focus on the opening.

But before the second shell could be chambered, a small hole opened... and a lone figure fell from it, and made landfall just a mere twenty feet from his pack.

The dust settled as the Yagh rushed to make ready, their weaponry aimed at the alien as it emerged. At first glance, it resembled the so-called asari. A slender and fragile figure that looked like it would snap the slightest pressure. Several pack-mates growled their desire to rip the alien to pieces.

Pac noticed though that this one's different. Instead of the head-crest, this one got a flowing red mane, along with very pale skin covered by an elaborate suit of armor. But this difference did not matter... he and his comrades were confident about their chances.

Their pack leader clasped his fist audibly, and all with clear line of fire opened up. Bullets and grenades raced out for the creature... but not fast enough. The alien anticipated this and leaped away from the incoming fire, and landed back on the floor in the projectiles' wake. Its' wide smirk mocking them – which enraged Pac and the others. Such a puny creature dared make a fool out of them?

"My lord was right about you." it spoke up in their language, her expression quickly changing into a disgusted grimace as she examined the warriors spread out before her, "But damn... if only you weren't such hideous-looking oafs."

The growls from the pack increased in sheer volume, and one broke from it, rushing in for what seemed like an easy kill in blind rage.

Before the rest could react in turn, either to join in or cheer their comrade on, or to continue firing at the ship above, its wound already healed by now – the alien raised its right arm, from which another arm sprung.. a huge arm-shaped blob of blood-red substance or energy, which swung with enormous speed – and sliced the charging pack-mate in half like he was not even there. The fast and undramatic kill brought pause to the others, weapons brought up as more of the red stuff emerged and wrapped around the alien's figure.

"Though, if the lord think you'll do - I guess you'll have to do. But first..." the alien continued as her slender figure vanished within the cloak that enveloped it... and turned into a monster which glowered at them. The sheer malevolence displayed by it unnerved even their pack leader, "... I'll teach you to bow before us."

* * *

**Author notes**: Sorry it took so long. Last time I posted a chapter for this story, I felt a sudden emptiness, and decided an intermission sort of chapter needed to be written next - though it may not look like one - to bridge the next upcoming campaign.

_Edit_: After reviews and several whispers, it seems people have difficulty understanding which character is portrayed in the last part. The character in question was Tayuya, which should be obvious enough. Who else in Kabuto's small group got _red_ hair aside from being the only female in the group? And logically, since it was told from the perspective of Yagh, which has never encountered humans before (besides the former Shadow broker) and thus wouldn't be able to tell the gender of the alien, thus the reference as "it" instead of "she".


	59. Chapter 59

**Chapter 59**

* * *

It was time. Once they had gotten through the relay and entered the Krogan DMZ, Shepard called together a meeting in the war room.

Shepard stood at the console belonging to the projector in the center, with Wrex and Victus at the far side – through with a noticeable distance of nothing but air between them. Nagato was also present to the side, though only as a holographic projection. Aside from them, EDI figuratively hovered over them. None of his team were present, but they listened in.

"This... is where we're at." he stated, their attention focused on the image of Tuchanka floating between them. "We face a fight on three separate fronts." Three red dots appeared on the image, indicating said fronts. All of them a fair distance from one another. "Losing any of these is not an option. EDI, fill us in on the latest intel."

The AI's response was prompt; "Rendezvous point is currently heavily contested." she forged a projection of a krogan fortress that currently face the risk of encirclement of a sizable reaper force. "Aside from an army of husks, there are three Destroyers at the location – along with a Dreadnought."

Wrex listened grimly. "Most of our forces from the clans in the region have gathered there. Lose it, and we lose the a large part of the region in no time."

"We won't let that happen, Wrex." the commander assured him, "EDI, go on."

"Unfortunately, before an assault can be launched to dislodge the reapers, the path must be opened. Latest reports indicates there is a eighty percent chance that the regional anti-orbital cannon may be captured by hostile forces."

"Cerberus most likely."

Wrex growled under his breath, "Persistent bastards."

Victus coughed, "I have managed to redirect two cruisers from Palaven to assist in this undertaking with fighter support. They are no more than three hours behind us. However..."

"If we don't secure the cannon..." Shepard put simply, "... approaching Tuchanka's going to be almost suicidal, I know."

"Why not simply destroy the weapon?" Nagato ventured to ask.

"For obvious reasons. Preserving it means the krogan can use it for self-defense in the future once they get around to actually crew the things."

"What of... the battalion?" Victus asked as he regarded the projections. Careful to not single out his son as his primary focus of concern.

"What indeed." Wrex shot him a glare, "Why are those even there?"

"I..." the turian hesitated, "... cannot tell. All I can say... is that their success will benefit you."

The krogan looked about ready to press him for more information when Shepard interjected, "We'll help them. But right now, just entering orbit is going to be dangerous. The Normandy will drop in first at the dark side of the planet and send a team head down to take secure the cannon. Once done, we will move in with full force."

"But is there enough of it?" the krogan warlord questioned. "It's going to take a whole lot more than some pumped up female to dislodge that."

"I am confident the kalinin will manage it splendidly." Victus insisted confidently.

Nagato scratched his head, somewhat flattered. "It just happens that our two jinchuriki have trained for a situation like this in mind lately. They will certainly break the siege, or at the very least disrupt it."

"Good to hear, Nagato." Shepard said, quite gratified. "Anything I should know?"

"Yes. But it can wait till after preparations are done."

"Fair enough. As for making sure every front get a full dedicated squad, I'm counting on you to fill the gaps. Javik will come with me to the fortress, since there might be infiltrators among the troops. Garrus and Vega will be on the Turian battalion, and finally Ashley on the cannon."

Nagato folded his arms and thought it over. "Aside from Naruto and Hinata, Temari will also join you. A and Ino will assist Ashley. And finally; Kakashi and Tenten will aid the turians. Will that be satisfactory?"

"Yes, very. But come to think of it, you haven't been in battle for a while."

"I know. But _someone_ got to do the paperwork."

...

"I see what you did there." EDI noted flatly.

Nagato rolled his eyes, "Yes, yes... noticed it the moment I said it."

Shepard did not need any notification to know that several of their eavesdroppers probably fell laughing at that. It was all he himself could do to maintain a straight face, "Wrex, we're going to need one of your shuttles."

"Consider it done." Wrex said with a nod and left to make the call.

"The operation will start once all are accounted for." he addressed the whole crew before he verbally indicated specific members; "Ashley, Cortez – prep the Kodiak. Be ready for launch the moment we arrive."

The response via intercom was immediate from both; "On it."

"We got a planet to save, so let's get to it."

* * *

Ashley waited almost impatiently where she sat at the back of the Kodiak. It was as ready as can be made short of lifting it off the deck, its engine running hot while Cortez sat in the pilot's seat – running a final check while humming his favorite song to himself.

As for the Normandy itself, Joker initiated the jump once the hangar doors had been sealed shut – immediately after the other shuttles arrived. He did not even wait till they had set down upon the deck.

Without a word, Ashley went to watch. The pilot of the krogan-owned shuttle left for the elevator. An old-looking krogan with a sour expression, probably going to report to Wrex. But of more interest was the small crowd that emerged from the other. A bunch of teenagers conversing lively along with a couple of adults, both of whom seemed to compete over who could frown the hardest – but the dark-skinned man appeared to win quite handily. He and the blonde girl Ino split off from the rest to approach the moment they spotted her.

"Glad you could make it." Ashley greeted with a wry smile, "Almost started thinking we had to go about this by ourselves."

Ino smirked, with arms folded across her chest, that JCA of hers adjusted thoroughly to hug against her body perfectly – hell, the girl even went through the trouble of focusing the suit's innate bulkiness in very specific areas. "Oh? Does that mean we get to just sit back and watch while you do the heavy lifting?"

"Not a chance." she said and gave a off-handed gesture to the shuttle, "Now, let's get situated shall we?"

A climbed on board without nary a word. His ripped physique mixed with that bulky OCA he wore made him look even larger than he already is. Ashley half-expected the Kodiak to snap somewhere under that frame... but it managed without trouble.

"What's with that sourpuss?"

Ino hushed her down and leaned close, "Things hasn't gone his way lately. Don't bring it up."

Ashley was about to ask why when Joker made an announcement: "ETA, two minutes."

"Son of a..." she cursed under her breath. _It's that much already? _"Go, get on board." she almost shoved Ino on board before she climbed in and shut the hatch. "Cortez!"

"Get yourself strapped in girls and gent." their pilot replied, hands flying across the haptic console until the Kodiak lifted clear off the deck. "Enjoy the ride."

"Arriving..." Joker spoke up again, "In three... two... one." followed by a shudder as the hangar doors creaked open before them. Cortez immediately had their shuttle blast off with as much speed as he could muster once the doors had opened wide enough. Once clear, the Normandy vanished in a burst of rapid movement as it jumped again.

Cortez threw the shuttle into a dive towards Tuchanka – its darkside completely pitch-black - before he leveled the craft and began the slingshot to the other side of the planet. Most of the trip passed in complete silence as Cortez used the planet's gravity to increase their momentum. The darkness that filled the space around them, broken only by the shuttle's interior lighting, receded only upon planet-shine, as Aralakh came into view – one ray of fierce glaring light at a time.

Ashley paused to observe the view for as long as it lasted as their pilot sent the shuttle into another dive, course now set directly for their objective. A slight shudder reverberating through the hull as they entered the outer atmosphere. With that in mind, she finished checking on her M-97 Viper.

"I've read about it... but..." Ino whispered as she left her seat to stand close to the left-side window – peering at the orange-tinged surface of Tuchanka, "... it is so... barren. Seeing this, I feel nothing but fear of the day I might see our home planet again."

"Difference is.." A grunted, arms firmly folded. He had taken but one look at the planet and decided that was enough. "... the krogan did this to themselves."

"According to old records. " Ashley described, "Tuchanka used to be a beautiful world. That is... until the invention of nuclear weapons."

"And disaster ensued."

"If not for their innate resilience and rapid reproduction, they probably would have brought it there, and joined the list over species that self-destructed that way. For a long time they've lacked both the expertise and will to rebuild their planet. The genophage was especially hard on them. I personally have my doubts about curing them, but Shepard believes it is the right thing to do."

"He's right. It is." Ino stated firmly, not pulling her gaze from the view as they got ever closer to the surface – close enough to make out large individual structures among the ruins of the landscape. "Most children stillborn. Can you imagine what suffering they must have gone through..."

"For what it is worth, that won't go on for much longer if this whole thing works out."

"Got the objective in sight." Cortez called back to them, his mind entirely on the job.

Ashley promptly got off her seat to take a look, "Show us." Their pilot helpfully did just that as he swung the shuttle just enough to show the cannon in the far distance. At first glance, it looked unwieldy and inflexible until one manage to make out that the entire installation's essentially one huge turret. The human spent a moment to scrutinize the image, "Cortez, can you zoom in any more? I think I saw movement down there."

"Working on it." their pilot responded in a thick accented tone as he magnified the image while lowering the craft closer to the ruins below.. just a couple of miles from the target.

She peered more closely, and was joined by a very curious Ino. It was hard to see, even now... but she could just barely make out a whole lot of movement. Humanoids dressed in bulky white/black armor. "Shepard was right. It looks like we got Cerberus to deal with. As for numbers..."

"I see sixty at least." Ino counted with squinted eyes, "Probably more inside."

The girl was talking like more than sixty soldiers wouldn't be a problem. But enemy numbers did not seem to matter if one got one or more kalinin on his/her side. Them and their sneaky or destructive ways. "You _do_ know we're not supposed to destroy it?"

"Yeah. Nagato told us."

"So..." A approached them with startling silence, looming over the rest like a bronze giant, "We are going in, or what?"

"Could I suggest something?" Ino ventured to ask, her lips curled into a small grin.

Ashley responded frankly, "As long as it doesn't make the whole cannon explode."

"Nothing like that. I have ways to disrupt them from within, just take us close enough that I can see the whole thing with my bare eyes."

If anything, that _did_ make her rather curious. Anything that could give Cerberus a hard time get thumbs up as far as she was concerned. "Cortez?"

"I'm not reading any disturbances. One heavy mech in sight – manned, but idle. Don't think they've spotted us yet." the pilot shrugged. "Or maybe they have, and just acting like they haven't."

"Acknowledged. Bring us in closer." her gaze fell back onto the girl, "Whatever you're going to do, make it quick."

"I will. Just take care of my body while I'm away."

Ashley arced an eyebrow. _What the hell is __that__ supposed to mean? _But she did not put voice to the question as Cortez eventually very nearly set the shuttle down on the top of a ruined structure just two kilometers from the target.

Gravity shifted slightly as their craft's side was presented to the objective before the pilot had the side-hatch open.

If Cerberus had not noticed their approach before, they surely did now. Ashley could see them start milling about like busy ants now on the screen. Ino lowered herself on one knee, then raised her arms – hands placed together to form a window, framing the cannon. "Here I go.."

Ashley stared at the girl, expecting something big to happen. But all Ino did, much to her bewilderment, was faint and land almost limply on the deck. The human brought herself to the unconscious girl and tried to wake her up when A placed a huge hand on her shoulder, "What just happened?"

The bronze giant flashed a rare grin and indicated the anti-orbital cannon. To that effect, an answer came.. one that required no words as chaos erupted. Or hilarity if one got a very dark sense of humor.

* * *

And there it was again. The same big dilemma Ino faced every time she did this. Once again she had taken control of some hunks of man-flesh, yet her actions were curtailed by the circumstances she had propelled her mind into. If not for the nasty implants, bulky armor and the hectic micromanagement-heavy battle she now waged against an utterly flabbergasted enemy – she would of taken a moment to do some proper exploring, different species or not.

_We'll have to go through the Bijudama eventually. But for now, see if your techniques' gotten an upgrade_. Those were Naruto's exact words a few hours ago.

So that is exactly what Ino did. Before her death during the war, she could possess and take control of at least three to four bodies. The results of deploying her mind transfer using tailed beast chakra were mind-boggling.

Ino felt kind of stretched, but that was unavoidable in this case. She had taken control of no less than a third of the garrison. Thirty soldiers! Including this one who sat in the ATLAS mech when she invited herself in and had her way with his thought processes.. before she promptly turned the few troopers she did not manage to take in this immediate area into fine red mist with a blast from the mech's main cannon.

But controlling this many bodies quickly proved difficult. So with no regard for their lives, Ino simply threw them into the fray. Controlled troopers rushed across the area ahead with weapons raised, gunning down hostiles along the way, ones utterly flabbergasted by what was happening – of which one got over it fast enough to return fire before he was perforated by the sheer number of guns facing him.

Single-mindedly, she had the swarm of minions lay siege to the elevated control room in the distance – with many barks and cries coming from inside about traitors and betrayal. _Oh, they had no idea._

Coordination became easier when some bright engineer got in his head to turn off the IFF signal on the turret he already had placed in there to shoot at anything coming in indiscriminately, which mowed down several of her controlled troopers – which she withdrew her mind from the moment before they expired. Two of said troopers awoke from the invasive mind transfer like they had been asleep, and cried out in shock and confusion as they were slaughtered by their own comrades.

The only unit she preserved was the ATLAS, using the other bodies as screens while she maneuvered the thing close to the control room and let loose a few rockets through the windows and against the ceiling inside, crushing and killing an unknown number of hostiles inside as fire, shrapnel and debris rained down on them.

With an inward smirk, Ino had the rest burst in guns blazing – half of them rushing in with two grenades each, live and primed, while screaming at the top of their lungs. The enemy screamed too, completely thrown off by these brute turn of events before they were all blown to hell. Debris, dust, blood, various limbs and fire alike belched out of the windows as the chain of explosions ripped through the control room.

Ino felt a rush of stunned satisfaction. This was supposed to be a test.. to disrupt the enemy... but ended up wiping out the garrison. Its only surviving member being the pilot of the ATLAS she still had lumbering about.

_Now... now if only this suit of armor wasn't in the way. Oh well._

She tried to articulate the mechs cannon to aim at its own cockpit. But it could not even get close to that. So Ino did the best next thing, and had it move close to the edge at the far side – hoping the fall would smash both it and its pilot.

_Bye bye~_

"And here I thought you'd just distract them."

The ATLAS had already arrived at the edge when Ino was addressed. "Huh? Oh... sorry about that." she apologized with the pilot's own masculine voice, made deeper by some functionality in his helmet, as she had the mech turn to face the others. A and Ashley – the latter carrying Ino's unconscious body on her back – had arrived without her noticing. A looked quite furious, this operation was an opportunity to take out his frustrations on the unlucky bastards here... but then the Yamanaka removed most of the sport. Ino had a good reason thus to be afraid, "Please don't hit me. I... kind of got carried away."

"Save your excuses." Ashley hissed and shot a sharp glance at the control room, "I told you to avoid blowing this place up."

"Er... I've read that krogan build their stuff solidly, so most of it probably survived."

"You better hope so."

"Don't you think I will let you off any easier, girl." A said with an angry finger directed at her.

Ino mentally sweated, "H-hey, there's still this guy left... just give me a moment to... Eh?" She let out a yelp as the man proceeded to topple the mech with a kick, and sent it tumbling over the edge.

A second later, she woke up – back in her body – just in time to hear the deafening screech of crushed metal as the ATLAS hit the ground far below.

"No more sport to find here." the bronze giant wearily sighed and turned to head back to the shuttle.

"Otherwise... good job." Ashley said after letting go of her.

The blonde sighed gratefully, "Thanks."

* * *

_Okay, at least this place is secure now._ Ashley thought as she looked over the carnage while Ino went to sit in a distant corner to rest from the mental strain she had put herself through.

She did not mention it, but Ino's abilities scared the shit out of her. Much more than the raw power of the Jinchuriki's did.

Ashley did her best to suppress the shudder that ran through her, and turned – finger pressed against her earpiece – to send word, "Team Ashley reporting in. Objective secured. All hostiles neutralized."

"Copy that Team Ashley." Joker just barely kept himself from snickering mid-reply. "We're incoming. Hold position until ordered otherwise."

"Roger. Holding."

In just a few moments, the small fleet lead by the Normandy would arrive back in orbit to send down the other squads.

So far, things had gone swimmingly. Ashley hoped it would stay that way.

* * *

Wreav spat upon his latest kill. One of those blasted Ravagers that suddenly burst from the bottom floor of the fortress and surged upward until stopped by a violent counterattack by its battle-hardened defenders.

Though a fortress, this place belonged to no one specific clan. The hollows could be found inside, the only true neutral piece of ground on Tuchanka. But by the fury of Aralakh, this place belonged to the krogan – not the relentless synthetics attacking them.

This incursion firmly stomped flat, he went back for his makeshift command post. His only because Wrex hasn't come back yet. But without him, there was hardly any unified front to be found. Almost every clan fought by itself against the enemy that besieged them, yet still they held. "Status?" he hissed harshly.

Urdnot Darg, one of his scouts, turned to face him – gun held loose in his hand. "Outer defenses have been compromised. Wall-breaches everywhere, all exterior armed positions' have been overrun. Every clan has taken heavy losses. All now building defensive positions across the interior – far enough inside to hopefully keep those reapers from making a mess of 'em – in preparation for the next wave."

"When?"

A deep mechanical blare pierced the air, and penetrated into every nook and cranny of the fortress. It sounded much like a battle-cry, one really good at grating nerves.

"You still need an answer to that?" Darg asked.

The gunfire that had slackened with the death of the last Ravager during that latest incursion picked back up again as hordes of husks charged in through every breach they could get themselves through while climbing over a ramparts of corpses that used to compose the previous waves mixed with those of fallen krogan. Some got no further than that before they met with walls of bullets cut loose by defiant natives. The thunder of weapons together with howls and cries of krogan and whatever else they brought with them to this place, including packs of varren and vorcha, echoing across the fortress while the blaring outside continued relentlessly together with the violent tremors as heavy weaponry pounded the outer walls.

None of that really troubled Wreav. All it did was make him clench his weapon all the harder. "Looks like they haven't learned their lesson yet."

Scattered chuckles spread through the dozens of warriors at his flanks.

"We'll keep throwing them out till they do!" his voice carried even over this incessant cacophony, "Korbal! Warriors, to battle!"

His comrades roared their approval and rushed off to crush their enemies. And Wreav was set to join them when Fortack intercepted him, "Wreav. I just received a message from Warlord Wrex. He is on his way, with special reinforcements I hear."

"Special?"

"It'll be a surprise." Fortack shrugged humorlessly, "So very like him."

"Indeed."

* * *

The plan Nagato put forth was crazy. Insanely so. Shepard balked at the very idea of what it entailed, and he very clearly told the man so. No matter how capable, he could not help but worry.

Yet there was no choice. He hoped they had more time. But alas, they did not.

Their shuttle had just lowered past the clouds, only to see a burning inferno. The rocky fortress was at least a couple of kilometers wide, yet it burned as though large sections had been coated with napalm. Massive plumes of black smoke billowed continuously into the air from it and its immediate perimeter – yet was nothing compared to the moving carpet of synthetic monstrosities of all shapes he could identify... and some he could not, led by a quartet of reaper ships that continuously sliced deep into the structure with their beam weapony while the army below streamed in, hundreds at a time.

The reapers were set to overrun the structure itself.

"Shit." their krogan pilot rumbled, "Top access is blocked too. The things are everywhere..."

"There must be some place we can access." Wrex muttered as he scrutinized the images. But anywhere he looked, there was one or more husks invading. There was no available entry point. None that ain't contested or taken over by the attackers.. "We need to get down there... before... "

He was cut off mid-sentence when the pilot threw their shuttle into a sharp banking turn as the air itself was cleaved by a beam thicker than the craft itself as one of the Destroyers below finally decided it was time to swat the annoying fly out of the sky.

Everyone anchored themselves with anything they could grab onto. Temari was the one most firmly secure, chakra pulsing from the neck and down, fastening the girl to her seat. Javik who sat next to her had decided the suna-nin was a whole lot reliable than anything else nearby and grabbed her shoulder hard enough to make her wince.

Shepard's stare settled on the couple that firmly returned their combined gaze – standing too close to the hatch for his comfort – as he rethought the plan. It was still crazy.. and he worried of finding the day when the kalinin would finally push themselves too far and die. "Wrex... our position?"

"Above the damned swarm."

"How far?"

"Six kilometers... give or take... why? Any crazy plan you got in mind?"

"Maybe."

"Good."

Shepard smiled wryly. That's right. He often found himself in those situations. They all did. and that was what made him make up his mind. It seemed like a realization he had to go through again and again, "Open the hatch when I tell you to."

The teens' eyes lit up as he finally gave them his approval.

"Sure, why not." Wrex said dryly, and grit his teeth at another sudden shift of gravity as the pilot evaded another beam – so close that the interior temperature jumped at least five degrees. "All of you pyjaks strap in and don't get blown out. Unless you're a salarian, then you can just go right ahead."

"Both of you." Shepard said. The teens now had his undivided attention.

* * *

"Yes?" Naruto asked as all present prepared to hold on for dear life. All that he and Hinata did till now was fasten themselves to the floor.

"Give them hell..." the commander told them, "... if not, at least come back alive."

The boy grinned heartily, "Got it."

Shepard gave just one nod before he secured himself and then called for the warlord; "Blow the hatch!"

"Get ready for a rough landing." Wrex hollered before he finally struck a button on the haptic console in front of him.

Naruto turned just in time to see the side-hatch fly open as though it had been blown off its hinges. He and Hinata were promptly sucked out as the air inside the shuttle was depressurized.

What followed was a moment of wild vertigo as he span in the air, in free fall. It was difficult to correct himself, to struggle against the elements lashing out at him... until he managed to summon a complete second stage cloak around himself, complete with no more than three tails. They needed to be matched for this.

He spread out his limbs and finally managed to stop the spin and settle into what one could call a controlled fall – peering at the air around him for any sign of Hinata, until she landed against and bounced off his back.

They turned and caught each others' hands. "Ready?" Hinata cried out the question as they were about to plunge into one of those clouds of black smoke.

Naruto's gaze fell to the ground so very far below as the Destroyer that had been taking potshots at the shuttle now turned to them – detecting the extremely high energy emissions they are now radiating. The first to notice for a change, he twisted himself and Hinata to the side with a yelp, out of the resulting beam's way before they finally entered the smoke.

Through it, he shouted a clear-voiced; "Let's do it!" as he triggered the disc planted in his JCA. Wrapping the second cloak around him, a motion his most beloved echoed.

* * *

The Destroyer stomped with deliberate slowness through the battlefield as it continued to track its tiny targets – heating up its cannon for another shot.

But the enemy beat it to it as a beam lanced out of the cloud and ripped clean through its front, along with hundreds of lesser synthetics as the pillar of condensed chakra rammed into the ground below and detonated violently – its shock wave strong enough to almost lift the Destroyer off the ground as it was temporarily shocked and blinded by the grievous damage incurred upon it... which left the Dreadnought with no rearguard as hundreds of bodies left the cloud.

* * *

Path clear, they left their oily black cover at the rear of an army of shadow clones Naruto had conjured and sent ahead of them – divided in groups of three people, each with a Rasen-shuriken being made ready as they dived for their targets below, primarily husks, more than a few which tried to shoot at the enemy the rearguard Destroyer could no longer respond to. Some clones were quickly dispersed by the hurriedly deployed anti-air, but most of the clones were expendable as long as one could deliver the deadly Jutsu.

Dozens of violent vortexes overlapped formations of husk troops as the first shadow clones impacted the ground, destroying them utterly as countless microscopic blades of wind tore through them. Hundreds perished within moments.

While the clones reduced the number of ground troops, the shinobi in the rear continued to descend towards the dreadnought, which finally began to turn together with the two other Destroyers – weapons charging till they became red-hot and about to cut loose.

But it presented its wide frame to them, and in so doing only made it easier for them as they got ever closer to it – the machine filling their vision.

"F-found it!" Hinata cried out.

"Then let us give it one hell of an air hole." Naruto responded in turn as they pushed apart from one another, then initiated a series of chakra bursts counter-clockwise like vernier thrusters to spin with such speed that they formed the visages of a drill, plus more to boost their speed on final approach.

The Dreadnought's guns pivoted to track them.. but with their new-found speed slipped managed to slip through – too close now to ever having a chance of hitting them.

At the final stretch, the two drills finally converged – their cloaks upped as far as can be without going above the other, and struck.

From the reaper came a warbled scream as the pair did not only pierce the upper hull, but blew through every deck below it. In an instant, it was as though it had been impaled to the ground like some bug fastened to the billboard with a needle as the kalinin blew clean through it and its reactor, before they finally hit the ground.

That was the part Shepard was most worried about.. but at the last few seconds their cloaks ballooned outward and absorbed much of the impact, though not before creating a massive crater in the ground... which was plugged up the next moment as the corpse of the Dreadnought collapsed on top of it.

Minutes passed in that little place as the pair, lying there in close proximity of one another tried to overcome the overwhelming dizziness that had overcome them. "Oof... I see stars, Naruto..."

"Same here... Ugh. How did those Inuzuka guys do that without getting nauseated?"

"I've not the foggiest idea. M-maybe because we couldn't replicate the Jutsu exactly."

"Tailed beast application: Sky-dive Fang over Fang. It bloody worked, that's what matters... right?"

"Next time... bring a few nausea pills along."

Naruto agreed, and felt like he was going to barf, "Consider it done."

Beyond the corpse that blocked their way out – for the best, as it also stopped the reapers from getting inside while the kalinin recovered from their ordeal – a monstrous blare came.

They still had the Destroyers to deal with.

* * *

**Author notes**: Argh, that took way too long. Thinking of what I want to happen is not the problem I got, it's actually putting it on paper in a satisfactory manner. The last part was meant to be more dramatic, more epic.. but eventually had to settle for this as it flowed a lot better. That said, Fang over Fang is a real bitch to describe in written form.


	60. Chapter 60

**Chapter 60**

* * *

To call it a rough landing was an understatement.

It took the harsh thunder of a shotgun blast to wake him. All he remembered before he blacked out was pandemonium. A conga line of increasingly violent disturbances that each made their already difficult upcoming landing exponentially harder. The only thing he could name was the depressurization from blowing the hatch so those jinchuriki could disembark – all the rest of it was rather hazy. But there did come an ear-splitting boom from far off, most likely a sign that the teens succeeded.

Shepard looked up, and guessed from his position that he lost his grip and hit the deck once their craft met with the ruin-covered surface below at high speed and grinded through an unknown number of hurdles. Fortunately, he got away from the trouble with no more than a few bruises – medi-gel could handle those just fine – in large part thanks to the green energy that pulsed across his frame and most of the shuttle's interior.

Javik had used his biotics to cushion them against the violent impact. The prothean sat at the far end with an indignant glare, completely unfazed as he pulled his pulse rifle free and inspected it for any sign of damage, then nodded at the lack of it.

Wrex and the pilot had recovered the fastest. It was hard not to be jealous of the krogan species' sheer resilience. Both had shrugged off the harsh landing and stood by the blown hatch – discharging their shotguns repeatedly at an unseen enemy more than eager to respond in kind, whether it be bullets or less than dignified language.

Temari had managed to cling to her seat, and remained there though there was no further need to. The girl seemed shaken, with a wild gleam in her eyes akin to that of a caged animal while holding her fan close in apprehension.

Worried, Shepard got up and put a hand on her shoulder. Shaking her gently; "You alright?"

Her eyes dilated as she tried to focus on him - as if distracted by something. The reply slow to come as her expression settled into a grimace. "Y-yeah..."

"Are you sure?"

"I... I am."

"Not the best of entrances, I know. Just hold it together till we reach the hollows."

"O-okay."

"Wrex!" Shepard called to his old krogan friend just as Javik brushed past him to join in fending off their attackers, "How many?"

"Enough for everyone to have their share." Wrex rumbled. "It's a real party out there."

"We better crash it then."

"Right on."

Javik rolled his eyes, muttering a low "Primitives." while he gunned down whatever was in his sight and proceeded to leave through the hatch, "Assault forward."

"Let's get out there." Shepard called out as he brought his pistol up. Wrex had no need to be asked twice as he and his pilot exited. Path clear, the human stepped out. It looked like they had landed on what remained of a six-lane highroad, with ruined tomkahs – Krogan APC/Tank hybrids – strewn about. Shepard brought his gun up at a marauder that slipped past the others' attention and planted a pair of bullets in its skull, dropping it before any damage could be done.

He took a moment to gaze at the horizon, covered by a motionless mountain of black metal – the corpse of a reaper with a sizable jagged hole down its middle. Its destroyer escorts loomed over the wreck, waiting for the kalinin within to resurface. Better than having them all come here and do what their countless minions could not.

Bullets whinged past his head, and he burst for cover – shooting down the onrushing cannibals as he went. Spent a sink, replaced it, and resumed firing. He downed three before he finally landed himself behind a heap of rubble. "We're exposed out here." he observed as he got up and joined in mowing down their plentiful opposition. Husks swarmed in from all directions.

"Tell me something we all don't know." Wrex commented gruffly as he managed to line up two more husks and tore them down with one shot, "We need to get to the hollows, fast."

"Be quiet." Javik insisted, "More incoming!"

It was all they could do to simply hold their position. They wiped out wave after wave of synthetics, but they pulled closer each time. It would not be long till they would be forced into melee. Enemy advance eventually slowed as the bodies piled up, forcing the husks to scale the mounds of corpses along the way or move around.. but that was itself taken advantage of as hordes of cannibals and marauders showed up, using said mounds for cover.

The synthetics fired wildly at the pinned group, keeping them down with copious amounts of suppressive fire while husks moved for the kill.

Shepard tried to look for a way out as this battle turned into one of raw attrition, but the solution most apparent was for the kalinin still in the shuttle to recover from her apparent state of shock and come out; "Temari, we need a hand here!"

* * *

Temari heard, but could not yet move. Her eyes were solidly fixed on the sand that had blown into the craft in moderate quantities. The sight of it... was too nostalgic, and not in the good way. For the moment, she saw not the interior of the shuttle, but the inside of the tunnels that stretched underneath Sunagakure. The suffocating confines, the burning sands that blew in through the closest entrance, and the sound of incessant gunfire and synthetic screams mixed with those of her countrymen had turned her blood into solid ice. It terrified her so much she couldn't move... nor could she breathe.

Not until a freak bullet pinged off the hull just behind her head.

Startled, Temari blinked and jerked her head forward, the tunnel instantly turned back into the shuttle. It took a few seconds to process what had happened before clarity made it back to her mind.

She searched for her weapon... which all along had been in her hands, held so tight her fingers had almost turned white from the strain. Embarrassed, she eased her grip with a sigh and pushed herself up to go and fight.

"Hey, sis. They're coming again!"

A gust of wind and sand hit her face, and the tunnel had returned, this time accompanied by the ghostly silhouette of her brother; "K-Kankuro?"

"Don't go fainting on me. You're up..." his voice trailed off as he stared into the dark, "Call down the hurricane, while we keep 'em busy! Gotta buy the folks below us some more time." and left through the exit.

As if replaying her memory, she followed him out. And did not stand in the ruined wastelands of Tuchanka, but in Sunagakure in a state of total collapse. Mistook a smattering of fallen husks for fallen comrades, of which a few still fought. The emotions ripped and flowed freely through her, passing clean through every mental barrier she had set up.

In a fluid motion, she unfolded her fan, just as blood-red chakra flowed from the armor and passed almost uncontrollably across it, past the arms, and onto the weapon – spreading intricate lines across it, including four glaring depictions of the rising sun.

Temari screamed and brought her weapon about, and swung it through the air as if to gather all the winds of the area, which she did. All around them, the wind began to pick up and circled around her and the imaginary group of fellow shinobi. As if dancing, she span – ignoring the bullets that flew all around her - once; twice; thrice – on and on it went, till the winds exploded into a violent hurricane that tore into the landscape with claws of wind. Rocks flew, husks were thrown, even the tomkahs within range lurched and were picked up by the powerful gusts till she performed her final rotation, the strongest yet, and scattered the tornado she had built up.

The following cacophony was deafening. Hundreds of objects of all kinds, maybe even thousands, were left flying with what little momentum they all had left. Half was little but doodads, but the rest were a haphazard collection of synthetics that flailed helplessly against this unearthly wind as long it took before they were all smashed into the ground.

But Temari was not done yet, she rotated her fan, then brought it about again – across a wide arc – and gathered all the chakra on the weapon into a single point, which she promptly launched. It alone flew for a moment, before it expanded, gathered all the wind it could, then exploded; launching a large bullet of compressed air that smashed into and followed the highway, flattening most of what it struck along the way until it was finally stopped by the thick walls of the imagined kazekage mansion in the far distance.

All of the gunfire in the vicinity had stopped. And silence descended. Temari reveled in the moment of triumph and looked to her comrades... but all of the shinobi had vanished – leaving only Shepard, Wrex, Javik and a helmeted krogan staring back at her. Sunagakure had also vanished, and returned her to Tuchanka.

Kankuro's ghost was no longer there.

Temari stared blankly as she fell and broke into sobs – tears pouring down her cheeks.

* * *

"What the hell was that all about?" Wrex wondered. "One moment she swept the field like a warrior queen, now she's crying like a little babe."

Shepard understood. All it took was one look at her face. She looked haunted. Garrus said she had a similar look earlier. Her soldiering on couldn't hide the fact that she still carried one hell of a trauma. Something here must have triggered it.

Anyway, he went and placed a hand on her shoulder; "I know I'm repeating myself, but are you alright?"

"N-no, I'm not..." she confessed, lips trembling. Some of the demonic chakra that bled from her armor still remained. Pulsating like it was alive.

He wanted to talk it over with her, but acknowledged how extremely poor the timing of that is with several Destroyers in the area. "Let's move to the hollows. We'll have a talk once we get there."

Temari said nothing, instead she stood up while trying to hide her face – as though ashamed.

Shepard did not need to walk far before he came across a dead marauder, with a phaeston assault rifle at its side, which the commander appropriated for himself. With his rifle missing, it would have to do. He spent a moment to brush off sand before feeding it a thermal clip.

"Let's move out. I don't like how quiet it's gotten." Wrex hollered, curse resting on his tongue.

The hollows had been silent since that huge air bullet struck it. Shepard hoped it hadn't collapsed its interior on top of its defenders. The krogan already moved on ahead. But Shepard went back to Temari and helped her along. The girl still trembled. "Javik, cover us."

It took longer than he liked to cover even half the distance, which was when Temari had recovered just enough to manage a decent walking pace - though her gaze remained distant.

His greatest concurrent fear was soon realized, as a blaring howl came from the destroyers. He thought they'd come and attack while while he and the rest were painfully exposed. But instead, much to his confusion, they instead took off. The metallic monsters took one last long look at the fortress before they pushed themselves off the ground and left.

"They're retreating." Javik quietly observed. It was not a question.

"But why?" Shepard wondered. Then he noticed light coming from inside the hole in the dreadnought's hull, "Was it to get out of dodge?"

"Battle developed in an unanticipated direction. A tactical retreat to a consolidated defensive perimeter is often the wise response so such occurrences."

"Possibly. But I got a nasty gut-feeling... Wherever we're going next, it'll take us right to them."

The prothean did not see a problem with that, "Good."

* * *

Far away from the hollows, a different battle went on in what was left of an old uninhabitated city. Currently, if one took a look at it from far away... the first thing to notice would be the still-smoking wreck of a recently downed turian cruiser. But for a crashed ship, it was in a remarkably good state – evidence of very low flight prior to when it got overwhelmed and brought down.

Fire billowed from what was left of a length of sewer pipe along with what was left of a group of husks. With burnt circuits and melted joints, they were no more than scrap. One managed to save enough functionality to rise, only to have its head blown off – from above.

"Clear." Tenten reported, and watched as the others emerged from the pipe and continued forward, Vega in the lead.. with Kakashi and Garrus covering the rear. While she covered them from the air. Yes, the air.

See, the seven-tailed beast can fly, unlike the other biju. It took a few attempts to materialize a pair of wings, then more before she finally flew. She wasn't the most maneuverable thing to leave the ground fly, but could handle this much, with a fair bit of concentration of course - so she limited herself to just one mattock at the moment, instead of the swarm of guns she could also use for the extra oomph. She kept herself at a fair distance, meaning she hovered at the edge of her weapon's effective range.

They were heading towards the location of an ongoing firefight, which was only a block distant.

"Tenten, we got movement in the back." Garrus called in.

She scanned the streets behind the ground team, and found a number of husks emerging from one of the ruined buildings. Cannibals and marauders. All heading for the ground team. "Solid copy. I'm on them."

Tenten discharged a single bullet into the skull of the leading cannibal. Without even a shriek, it crumpled to the ground with a sickening crunch. Other cannibals, true to their name, converged on the fallen husk to feast. The morbid activity caused the enemy squadron to slow their marching speed to a crawl. A couple of more fallen cannibals later, and it came to a complete halt as the feasting synthetics clogged the path they followed. Seizing the chance, she flew as silently and swiftly as her chakra-made wings could carry her over the husks and dropped a single rock, with an explosive tag attached.

It was enough. The improvised bomb hit the back of a marauder and detonated, blowing apart most of the enemies present. Leaving only a pair of confused marauders. It did not occur to the former turians to look up till the last moment when she finally put them down with a quartet of shots.

Doesn't seem like they expected airborne infantry. Then again, such adversaries aren't exactly commonplace in this cycle, so she was willing to cut them some slack.

Anyways, the enemy had been wiped out at this location; "Targets down. Rear secure."

"That's one thing off our back at least." Vega said, the sound of heavy munitions in the background obscuring his voice. "Shit!"

"We got a Harvester at our location!" Garrus called, "Lend a hand!"

"Harvester?" Tenten asked, but that was all she could utter before something huge rammed into her.

* * *

Kakashi frowned at the newly arrived creature. Another of the reapers' menagerie of horrors... which just dropped itself and a smattering of lesser husks into the fray, its attention – for now – mostly directed at the turian pocket of survivors that desperately tried to fend it off. Vega and Garrus shot at it, but it did not do a hell of a lot. "It airlifts troops, huh?"

"The animals they created those things from..." Garrus ducked as the harvester turned its flat head in their direction and let loose a shot that knocked over large chunk of cover. The turian coughed at the resulting cloud of sand, "... did that too. They pluck random predatory critters off the ground and drop 'em right on the preys' collective heads. Then feasted on what was left afterward."

"A rather lazy predator then?"

"Crafty, is what I call it..." he trailed off, "You don't seem particularly troubled."

Kakashi surprised even himself over his flippant he was about this thing. He had settled himself in a casual crouch behind a wall, idly looking over his shoulder at the thing that stomped around just out of sight – debating inside on how to deal with it. Kamui was an option readily available, but it really puts on a whole lot of strain. Better off preserving it until the need is dire.

"Guys, get clear!" Vega called further back.

The turian did not need to be asked twice as they all heard something huge – the harvester – approach their position. Suitably alarmed, Garrus hurled himself away and bid a hasty retreat. Aside from him, the jonin picked up on the danger too and leaped away, just in time to see the harvester ram the wall down with its head – which it then angled at him.

_Okay.. dire enough._

He heard the distinct sound of it powering up its head-mounted cannons, and jumped again with all his strength, quick enough to avoid the barrage as it reduced the place he used to be into a crater. Unfazed by this persistence, it elevated its head to try and shoot him down. However, he was determined to not allow it another shot, and opened his sharingan-eye, "Kamui!"

The technique struck the harvester's skull dead-center. Its head imploding into nothingness as a blur overlapped it, then dragged inward – leaving the harvester's body to crash limply into the ground with nothing on the neck aside from a headless stump.

Remaining husks ditched their offensive against the turians and converged on his position even as he went behind the closest available wall to shield himself from the onrushing onslaught – though the creatures paid dearly as four of them dropped from head-shots in rapid succession, courtesy of Garrus.

"Nice hit." Vega hollered. The heavily armored soldier stomped to his side with a heavy-duty shotgun in hand, "Sure took some guts that, mad-eye."

"... Mad-eye?" Kakashi mumbled right before he shot a husk dead, the moment it rounded the nearest corner.

The human tossed a grenade over the wall, followed by an explosion intermixed with a synthetic scream, "Yeah. One weird eye. Mad-eye."

"Don't make a habit of calling me that." he mumbled just in time for a deafening scream to directed their attention at the sky as yet another harvester came in – dropping even more troops as it circled toward them.

"Shit! Another one?!"

"Darn... Tenten was supposed to be here by now." Kakashi scanned the air with a sense of urgency, "Where _is_ she?!"

* * *

"Ugh..." Tenten croaked as she came to, her mouth tasting like copper. A daze hanging before her eyes as she tried to flex her limbs and get up. It was madly disorienting, though not dangerously so... unless there were enemies nearby waiting for her to carelessly rise into view. But judging by the distant clamor, she was in no immediate danger - that is, if she did not count whatever knocked her down.

All she knew, was that it was swift... and big.

Her immediate surroundings were dark, and that was no fault of her disorientation. She had been sent crashing through the ceiling of some building – just looking at it made her hurt all over even more than it already did. Despite that, she tried to get up.

_Seems like the demon cloak took most of the impact... ow, think I've got a broken rib. And a few bruises. By the way... where am I?_

The immediate room she's in looked empty. At least it did till she discerned shapes in the dark. Not enemies, but objects.

Tenten inspected the closest one once able, and found it to be a crate. Breaking the lid off revealed what she had landed in the middle of: A weapons' cache. This discovery brought a smile to her face. Checking more of the crates only confirmed it. Tons of rifles and shotguns primarily, along with many buckets worth of thermal clips – so nothing here was of the outdated sort. Dusty, but not old.

To think there would be a cache here, in the middle of nowhere. Still, she intended to make the most of it as she plucked out a few scrolls to properly appropriate everything here. Could be considered theft, but right now these arms would be of better use out there than to sit here uselessly.

In quick succession, she opened the rest of the crates, and laid the astounding number of arms out across the floor. Absently noting to herself that her comrades needed help, but was all too giddy about this hoard of treasure.

She actively collected them all into her scrolls – dozens at a time, her eagerness only momentarily halted the moment she stepped on something that creaked under her weight. Most of the floor was made of stone, but this was unmistakably metal. It was a lid. Painted red like the rest of the floor was, with plenty of sand across. Camouflage for those who don't look too closely.

Curious about what it might be hiding, she searched the ground till a single handle was found... and pulled it open with a grunt of effort. Underneath, the girl found something that made her smile in a way she only reserved for the best of goods, "Dear diary: Jackpot!"

* * *

Back on the Lance of the Six Paths, Mei sauntered from bed to bed in the infirmary, looking over recently reconstituted kalinin. Not many as debate went over on whether to revive all of them, or only a few that could help them in the war while the rest would have to wait till a later date.

Especially as most subjects so far ended up in a state of coma upon completion.

She stopped at the latest subject, and browsed through the bingo-book she had brought along, but could not find any pages regarding the black-haired woman in question. With a resigned groan, Mei put the book aside and leaned over the comatose being to check if she was recovering nicely. Her pulse at the very least was good.

It looked like this shinobi was coming along nicely at the very least. She lay there with an impression of complete exhaustion, like she had worked days without sleep. Mei made sure to conclude the inspection quickly before she made her way to the desk, and only halted when something began to move, just outside her edge of vision. Slightly alarmed, she turned... "You...?"

* * *

**Author note**: Sorry. A rather short chapter this time. Aside from that, I notice so terribly often that I call thermal clips; heat sinks. It's gotten to be a nasty habit.

As for answers to reviews:

Mivpus (On Chapter 41): It slipped and fell.


	61. Chapter 61

**Chapter 61**

* * *

"Outta our way-!"

Another metallic crack rang out as Naruto shattered yet another husk, punching through them with enough force to crumple the walls behind them. But with each kill, ever more rushed in to bar their way upward. They had blown a hole through this particular reaper, and the daylight was almost blocked from shining down on those deep within by the numbers they faced.

"Naruto, they're pulling back!" Hinata called out from further below.

"Who?" Naruto hollered his question as he ascended to yet another floor and was almost knocked off the recently made ledge by an onrushing brute. Only a quick reflex to duck, dart through the space between its legs followed by a forceful push from behind made sure to turn this from a slight humiliation to triumph as he made it fall down the hole to be crushed by whatever met it first below.

"The reapers outside. They're leaving."

He could only barely make her voice out in this crowded atmosphere as more husks tried to bar his way, and forced him to engage them. The first was swiftly batted aside, the second blown apart by a punch. As for the last two in his immediate sight; he literally gripped them to pieces – easy to do with a cloak up. With no more to challenge him that moment, he leaped to another floor. From inside, a reaper truly felt massive... and alien. Its inside was made with minimal aesthetic sense, except whatever indoctrinated servants had managed to put up before they utterly lost their minds.

He paused for a single moment to peer up at the far end of this tunnel they made, and could barely see a sliver of daylight past their enemies. "Hinata, are you okay?"

No other answer was required than a passing wind as the girl leaped past him to a floor above. "I'm fine. Just keep climbing, w-we got incoming from behind as well."

"Oh. Right." Naruto mumbled. Something clearly worked to claw their way up. As a simple response, he continued his climb and together they bashed through several levels worth of synthetic troops. Regular husks mostly, but with other strains thrown in here and there. The most important to stay attentive of concerned brutes. Neither marauders nor cannibals were considered a threat at this place and time.

An elongated limb stretching out from somewhere snatched him by the ankle, and very nearly dragged him back down. "Wha-?" he blew, and quickly crossed his index fingers before his hands became busy holding onto the ledge. A pair of shadow clones popped into existence, one which pulled him back up while the other dropped down and severed the nasty limb with a hasty rasengan. "Okay, that's it..." he snorted and held out a hand, palm directed upward – his clones quickly came to flank him, and joined in. "Step aside Hinata, I got this!"

Higher up, the girl stopped and leaped out of the way. Able to feel the large concentration of chakra gathering in the air above that palm of his as he along with the clones quickly forged a rasen-shuriken and hurled it into the thickening mass of husks above – a sight washed away as the shuriken-shaped jutsu struck a brute dead-center and violently expanded to envelop a great many floors – consuming all within in the ensuing storm. Husks were shattered in large numbers under the force of this bombardment, and when the destruction ceased... the path had been fully opened.

"Go!"

Naruto jumped, his clones dissipating in his wake. He and Hinata cleared the remaining distance before the enemy could close the gap again... and finally reemerged back into the clear light of day – as clear as a day could be on Tuchanka.

"So much sand..." Hinata said as she brushed both hands through her long hair which flowed fairly in the strong wind - once she had regained her breath.

Naruto grinned mirthfully, "Am I a monster for saying I want a shower after seeing this?"

"It d-depends on what the krogan think."

Being on top of a reaper, they had quite a view. Not that there was much beauty to it. The landscape spread before them like a carpet of raw destruction. It was such a sad sight that the sound of hostiles still on approach from below was a welcome distraction.

"Best vacate this place, is there any sign of Temari and the others?"

"They're in there." Hinata pointed at the structure which dominated the area with its presence. The hollows, which had grown quite silent. "Nearly at the krogan lines."

"That's a relief. Was worried we came too late."

"Shall we go?" the girl asked as she peered over her shoulder at hole they came out of as a number of husks pulled themselves into view, the first of many.

"Sooner the better."

The enemy rushed, and flailed with fangs and claws. A mass of horrors that the kalinin cleanly ignored and left behind in a single leap as they journeyed for the hollows.

* * *

Within the confines of this place, the attackers' effort faltered. In a fortified location filled with narrow spaces, an attacker would need to maintain constant pressure to make any headway. But with the departure of their masters, these husks had lost this crucial advantage. Steadily diminished by the resilient defenders, the synthetics could do dreadfully little but fall apart – often literally.

And with no reinforcements available, those left inside the structure had become dangerously vulnerable to ambushes and pincer attacks. Nowhere was this more clear than in the main corridor as the husks present faced one of the latter – although it was executed by little but pure coincidence.

They wildly charged the line of fortifications in front of them, fully staffed by angry krogan with shotguns aimed down at them, even as they were slaughtered from behind. Forget about regrouping, the place was much too narrow, and the air was full both on the left and right of bullets and pellets that missed their calling.

"Forward!" Shepard pressed. He and his group had come out of the distant dark in a delta formation, with a deliberate intent to blow straight through the opposition as quickly as possible – spearheaded by the brutish but refined Wrex who took the task with relish. He focused solely on what was directly in front of him, while the rest – his pilot and Shepard to the left, and Javik along with Temari to the right – gunned for the nearest enemies to their flanks.

Shepard's one worry was to run out of heat sinks. Ever since they got past the walls, it had been a running battle in search for krogan-controlled areas. The man mentally kicked himself with the note to ask Tenten for more of those nifty ammo-tags of hers later.

"Open up you pyjaks. Let us through!" Wrex bellowed at the fortification ahead. Those upon it acknowledged their warlord and pulled a section of the wall apart – a slight opening to a krogan... but a grandiose entrance to anybody else.

It did not take long before the husks picked up the slack as there came a strange light upon their optics – upon which they surged like a mob with more a narrowly guided murderous intent than usual.

"Line formation!" Shepard ordered crassly as he picked up on the enemy movements - all converging on them alone, more than a few directed at just him. A row of husks fell as the team reorganized to provide a wall of gunfire at their opposition. "Temari, clear them!" he looked to the girl.. who got a sort of glazed expression. "Temari!"

She finally blinked, and acknowledged him.

"Clear them away, and be fast about it." he told her, but as gently as he could.

Temari nodded faintly and unfolded her gun-fan. The rest backed off to give her enough space to weave her technique. The air seemed to thicken while she prepared, until it was all brushed away as she launched all of it – from this, a powerful gale blasted down the corridor to the detriment of the amassed husks – powerless to do anything but be swept along by the absurdly powerful wind.

Whatever happened next to them was not offered any attention to as Shepard ordered everyone through the opening so it could be closed off.

On the other side they found a small army. More than a few murmured about what had happened while they parted to let the group through – in part because of the presence of warlord Wrex, but also out of wariness about the lone girl among them. "Did you see that?" one back on top of the fortification muttered for example – just one of many incredulous questions and statements.

"Seems like we're in the clear." Shepard noted.

Javik shrugged. "One reaper down. Totally worth the trouble getting here."

"Yes. We should probably wait here for the pair out there to rejoin us."

"Do that." Wrex said plainly, and turned. His voice turning more solemn. "I will go and check with Wreav – my idiotic brood brother – and make sure everything's clear. I'll call you when it's safe for Eve and that pyjak to come down."

"Alright." Shepard agreed as he watched the warlord leave. His attention quick to wander back to Temari as they moved in the direction of some stacks of crates to sit and wait. "Temari, we should have our talk now."

The girl nodded with a meekness that seemed so ill-fitting on her person. "Y-yes."

"What happened out there at the shuttle? You were distant one moment, took action, then broke down."

"Trauma?" Javik offered with a minor scoff.

It looked as though she shrank away. "J-just memories... painful ones."

_Post-traumatic stress disorder_. Shepard surmised thoughtfully. "Tell us about them."

"Um... I was a Jonin of Sunagakure, one of the great hidden villages of our world."

He nodded with empathy. "Where was it situated?"

"In the land of winds. Most of it was little more than a desert."

_Desert_. "So that was what triggered it. The desolation of Tuchanka reminded you of home."

"It was not as bad. Much less ruins. But it was arid and sandy as one can expect of most deserts... just like here. The temperature was just right."

"But then the geth invaded. They pummeled the surface from orbit."

Temari visibly shuddered. "Yes. Most of my village was obliterated outright. Those that remained of us tried to escape further destruction by going underground. Best way to avoid detonations after all. But then they invaded."

"Did you manage to escape at any point to join the survivors of other villages?"

"No. To my knowledge... none of us escaped. They surrounded what was left of our village and marched in, and butchered as they went. Unable to escape on open ground, we could only dig deeper... in the faint hope to go unnoticed. But they were too fast... and..." her voice trembled.

"Take it easy." he kindly told her. "Don't rush. Take your time."

She paused for only a few seconds and continued. "So we... fought from house to house, vault to vault, tunnel to tunnel. I was there in one of the tunnels.. so frightened I could barely breathe. No amount of training could had prepared me for what I experienced there."

Javik had closed his eyes and listened quietly. He did not budge an inch, neither did the commander.

"My brother Kankuro then came and encouraged me – with a few well-chosen words - to get back up and take part in further resistance."

"And that, I guess, is the scenario that played through your mind back at the shuttle?"

A wordless nod followed.

"I see." Shepard patted his knees as he considered this information. "It must be unbearable. But that leaves me with a dilemma, I'm sorry to say. As long as you remain on this planet, those memories might resurface. And that could happen to the detriment of those you fight alongside, so should I send you back to your ship?"

"No." a small modicum of strength returned to her eyes. But if one looked closer, it looked more like desperation. "I... can handle it."

"A relapse might put you in the way of everyone."

"If that happens; leave me behind."

His gaze turned hard. "Don't give me that, or I will have you sent back as soon as can be done."

"I... I apologize." she gasped. "Just... I can still fight."

"And I am well aware of that. But a battlefield is no place for one in such a condition."

"It won't stop me again, I swear it."

Shepard held her gaze for a prolonged moment. "Alright. I'll let you stay... but have another relapse and I will send you back up."

Temari nodded, her attention drawn to the floor, roughened by centuries of wear and tear. "Understood."

Case closed for now, the commander stood and wandered closer to the fortification. Momentarily lost in thought till he pressed his earpiece, "Joker, what's our status?"

* * *

"Status?" Garrus communicated to Joker with a sigh. He looked over the meager clearing, filled with a small number of turian troops – the few that survived the crash and subsequent battle till he and the rest arrived to take off the heat. "Eighty plus percent allied losses. We just barely saved and rallied what's left – their CO is still alive, but barely holding it together." his gaze found Tarquin Victus as he tried to motivate his dispirited men into continuing their assigned mission – though it had very much gone to hell in a hand basket. "I guess the primarch's son still being alive is a shred of good news, but it does not much to dampen the loss. The guy tried to live up to his father's name and fell short."

"Shit." Joker communicated in return with a curse on his breath. "Okay I'll let the commander know. Any news on what they came to do?"

"Yeah. Though it is something I won't tell even on an encrypted channel. For now, it is best we keep a lid on it."

"Roger that." the pilot responded with slight curiosity. "Keep us posted."

"Wilco. Garrus out." Garrus stepped down along the ruinous path to rejoin the rest of his team. Both Vega and Kakashi sat dispassionately at the very edge of the gathering. "Any word from Tenten yet?"

"Yeah, she just called in." Vega told him. "Will be back soon."

He grimaced and looked to the skies, as if to spy for her. "Good, but she better be here quick. We'll be moving out soon." They managed to pull this through just barely in her absence. Luckily the reapers only had two harvesters in this area. Without those, their ability to project force here was curtailed.

"There she is." Kakashi noted as he glanced up in a different direction.

Garrus followed his visible eyes and watched as the girl finally arrived, her armor somewhat dirty under that burning red demon cloak of hers. Tenten hovered into sight and set down on a piece of broken pavement, looking exhausted and a little battered. "Where have you been?"

"Sorry about that... got knocked out of the way right back over there by... something. I'm not sure _what_ it was, but it probably thought I was dead." she awkwardly scratched her head as the cloak dissipated. "Er... how long was I gone?"

"Too long. You made us worry."

She bowed her head. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, you're still in one piece. Good enough for me." Vega offered his input.

"I did find some treasure though... a hidden weapons' cache."

Kakashi did not even bat an eyelash. "And you grabbed it all, I guess."

"Yep."

Garrus sighed and addressed the male kalinin. "You should really talk it over with her about her propensity for stealing weapons."

"Bad girl." the man drawled... "Bad." He had deployed a kamui, along with a slew of other techniques – all in rapid succession. Plainly put, he needed a breather... and Tuchanka's hot and dry days did not help much. He had no desire to waste energy reprimanding her, and it showed.

"A-anyway, you won't believe what I found there!" Tenten tried to elicit some interest, but Garrus wouldn't have it. Or rather, his attention turned elsewhere as Tarquin approached:

"My men have decided to resume the mission. We just have to scrounge up shuttles from the wreckage and we can proceed at any time."

"So... what's that mission of yours?"

Tarquin's eyes found the newly arrived female. "They haven't told you?"

"She only just came back." Vega told him. "We haven't gotten that far on informing her. Yet."

"Alright. We came here to disarm and remove a bomb our ancestors planted here after the krogan rebellions. Now that we are about to seal an alliance, it needs to be gone. If it goes off... we can kiss any hope of getting krogan support in this war goodbye."

"A bomb?" Tenten mused in interest. "How big is it?"

"All I need to say is that its detonation would be catastrophic. There is another thing though, which makes this all the more urgent."

"Cerberus." Garrus whispered.

"... Correct."

"Most of Cerberus forces nowadays are little but brainwashed civilians turned soldiers with implants." Tenten said bitterly. The knowledge of what was found out back on Eden Prime still fresh on her mind. "A blindly loyal and expendable army. Perfect for starting the bomb, and protecting it till it goes off."

Tarquin looked unsettled. "No rhyme nor reasons. It makes no sense for those bastards to do this. But we best get moving."

"Right. Vega, call our shuttle here."

The man pressed his earpiece. "On it."

"Otherwise... let's pray to the spirits we get there in time."

* * *

It was done. The deep vault had been opened, and now he watched as the ancient bomb was raised from the depths of this chasm. It was almost comically round, reminiscent of those in old cartoons. Two pillars stood ready to receive and hold the bomb.

Among the mass of soldiers around the site stood Kai Leng – one of Cerberus' top assassins. One of the very best in the galaxy. He watched nonchalantly as the bomb was raised into place, while a trio of Mantis flew overhead – carried down to the surface by a specialized drop-ship.

He did not plan to stay in this area for very long. The only reason he chose to come here was to potentially see the kalinin in action. An option had been to visit the anti-orbital cannon... but that chance had come and gone with loss of communications with the makeshift garrison stationed there.

It was only a guess, but some of them might be inbound for here, based on a number of factors – including how much beyond important it is to secure this bomb before it can be blown sky high. If no kalinin come, he would simply leave and finish plans for the operation to come. Ruining all hopes for krogan assistance was not enough, they needed to hinder further damage to reaper ships present on the planet for the sake of the Illusive man's ultimate plan, and prevent the krogan from curing the genophage.

Three objectives of great import, and Kei Leng had no intention of failing.

"Sir." a centurion approached. His voice deeply baritone... more robotic in tune than human.

The assassin inclined his head. "Out with it."

"We have detected two shuttles incoming. One lacks IFF. The other however... indicates the turian hierarchy."

"How far out?"

"A few minutes. Five at most."

"Shoot them down. Kill any survivors. No prisoners."

"Acknowledged."

* * *

It took an hour to get where they were needed, but there was a certain tenseness in the air that lasted throughout that time. It was like every second was just the prelude to Armageddon.

The heavily armored Vega sat as if glued to his seat. His grip so solid around his N7 Typhoon - while his shotgun, a trusty N7 Piranha, rested on his back - Both from the tenseness... and a certain measure of possessiveness. Especially as Tenten occasionally eyed it. Right now though, she lazed at the back, hands flat against the sides of her seat.

Any further orientation was cut short as something detonated not far off the shuttle's side, the other shuttle's pilot yelled in surprise. And around them, the ride rocked like mad. "Figured they had some sort of anti-air..." Garrus muttered. "Take us down!"

Despite the element zero fields, he could very much feel his gut ascend to the throat as their shuttle sent itself into a straight dive. Through the window, Vega could vaguely see the turian shuttle follow suit.

Tarquin's voice cut in; "LZ is hot! Land and engage anyway!"

Garrus shouted something, but Vega couldn't make it out as an explosion drowned away his voice. Still, he held his gun up and leaped out once the hatch opened. There, he took in the view, a cityscape with large gashes and holes in the ground across the area – perfect for a trench fight.

Right now though, he dug in his heels and shouldered his light machine gun – forward kinetic barrier upped to maximum before he let rip. A thunder filling his ears as his weapon hurled a storm of bullets at Cerberus up ahead that had for some reason chosen to use portable barrier generators for cover instead of the rubble.

Accuracy was not a consideration on his side. Vega unflinchingly fired on fully automatic. All his initial part's about is to draw fire so the others could fan out. To the far left, the turian shuttle had landed and all of its occupants spilled out with guns blazing. A shadow passed overhead as the air took to the air. Bullets rained against his barrier, and that... he took that as a good sign.

What was not a good sign was when an explosion blasted away pieces of rubble up ahead. Artillery. Ranging shots.

"Yo, buns." he communicated tersely. "Get whatever mortars' shooting at us!"

"Will do..." the voice of the female rang into his ear, which turned annoyed almost immediately after; "And call me that again.. and the next to explode will be you."

"Er..." Vega hesitated. "Gotcha." He started to get the impression the kalinin did not appreciate the nicknames he applied to them.

The first salvo of precision shots brought down any targets Vega couldn't hit at this range, shattering the nearest enemy line – followed by a turian cry to advance. Though unclear whether it was from Tarquin or Garrus, Vega lowered his weapon and ran.

To his left, a yell was abruptly let out and ended both at once as a mortar strike consumed one of the turian soldiers in a ball of shrapnel and fire. Two more nearby got injured by the same blast, which the rest took care of and pulled along. It made the human soldier run even harder. He was not too keen about getting hit by such heavy munitions.

"First mortar down!" Tenten's voice called in. Indeed, he could already tell the difference. A ball of fire billowing from a distant ruin confirmed it all the more. But further blasts continued to thunderclap across the area. More turians got injured or killed, and their comrades – disciplined as they all are - rushed to aid them.

The turians never left their own behind. Admirable, and it motivated their soldiers to fight, knowing that they will be brought back home even if they die. But with shells raining down on them despite fire continuing to belch in the distance from further mortar sites taken out in succession...

Vega cursed under his breath and shuttered the thought. Focusing all of his attention instead on on making for the ramp up ahead with his turian teammate not far behind. Then it just kind of struck him. "Where is he?!" he yelled over his shoulder.

"What?" Garrus shouted back, eyes narrowed to keep all the dust kicked up throughout the area out. Barely able to hear as another shell struck nearby.

"Where is Kakashi?"

* * *

Another trooper limply collapsed with a gurgled curse, a hole visible on his chest as the one who inflicted it pulled his arm out.

Kakashi grabbed the body and lowered it gently onto the floor. With all that armor, the impact noise would only alert nearby foes. Confident that the kill was silent enough, he moved on through the ruin. From the onset, rather than a frontal assault, he did the next best thing and went straight to the right. There, he scaled the wall that dominated that direction, thinning cerberus' ranks beyond it while their attention was mostly focused on Tarquin and Garrus.

_Sorry about that_. He thought softly as he made his way through the ruin and found yet another group of troopers, with an engineer in the rear – on a retreat vector.

While they looked the other way, Kakashi crossed the gap and gripped his knife. With cold focus, he grabbed the engineer and slit his throat. Then quickly and cautiously put the body down.

Methodical, he repeated with the next three with as much silence as possible – easy as the distant gunfire and explosions created a constant droning noise that drowned out any minor sounds. One of the three was a Dragoon – whose armor shimmered with biotic energy. Dangerous enough that he outright stabbed his knife through the throat and twisted to make sure the human died quickly. The remaining troopers and centurion remained ignorant until the closest remaining one finally turned, and began to utter a shout... which the Jonin immediately threw his knife with enough force to bury it into the centurion's throat.

A couple of seconds bought, as the remaining ones turned in surprise to their comrade's less than ceremonious fall. It took long enough for Kakashi to appropriate a rifle and gunned them down – one after another. Luckily the thermal clip was fresh. The man dropped the rifle and gathered up as many clips he could from the fallen hostiles and stowed it all away before he moved on to the next team, and the next one after that. It was one clean or messy kill after another. Mostly with the use of knife and guns as he for now wanted to conserve his chakra.

A bloody trail of corpses was left in his wake, and he maintained rapt attention for any more as he neared where the main action is. He winded through broken corridors, halls and alleys of what used to be a perfectly serviceable city block once upon a time. He paused in the next room as the far-off mortar fire finally ceased, along with the gunfire soon after – punctuated as a corpse fell into view, minus a head.

Kakashi warily watched as a turian surfaced from around the corner. Fortunately, it was Garrus. "Kakashi.." he acknowledged with a begrudging nod, eyes on the smears of blood on the kalinin's armor. "Finally... Tell me next time you decide to go sightseeing."

"Spur of the moment." he shrugged. "How are things going out there?"

Garrus frowned. "We have breached their defenses. Far as I can tell, they're pulling everything back to the bomb."

"And Tenten?"

"Haven't seen her. We hear the occasional gunshot in the far distance. Sounds like she's having a field day." the turian winced as static belched into his ear, "Right." he groaned. "Let's get moving. We don't want Cerberus arming the bomb."

"Right." Kakashi promptly leaped through a hole in the roof and peered into the direction they are heading. And there... he could just barely see the top of a gigantic spherical object. A slight shudder followed across the broken floor as Garrus joined him, using his OCA to elevate a section of the floor to carry him through the same hole. "Is that it?"

"Probably. Really getting a bad feeling about this."

* * *

Ten minutes, then the sound of battle picked back up again with great intensity. Whoever were sent here weren't the average ensemble of grunts. Already the reports came in.

Still, Kai Leng stood there where the technicians worked on activating the bomb with deadly calm like nothing could touch him. A centurion stood by his side, "Sir. Enemy breaking through. Cannot maintain positions."

"Pull everyone back to the bomb - but no further. Any kalinin sighting?"

"Acknowledged." the centurion spoke as he relayed the order. "Two sightings, sir. But right now only one is engaging us."

"Find where the other is. I want no surprises."

Though the situation had become increasingly dire, he inwardly smirked in anticipation.

* * *

Far above a distance away, a figure set down atop what remained of a tower that is pretty tall by krogan standards. Despite the blood-red shroud, the body was distinctly female.

Momentarily, the cloak thinned as Tenten scrutinized the area. She could not suppress that shudder that followed, her eyes fixated on a particular prize. She licked her lips and thickened her cloak just enough to manifest the wings and glided down with the wind – beating it only to keep herself aloft.

Just underneath, several small detonations removed sections of a wall... from which a diminished troop of turians launched themselves at the cerberus defenses. She was barely able to make out Garrus, Vega and Kakashi as they followed Tarquin's forces in.

* * *

A chill went down Garrus' spine, one of many as he stared at a makeshift control center at the foot of one of the pillars that kept the bomb suspended. Its crew at work setting off the bomb. "Anyone who can-" he heard Tarquin shout over the firefight, "-take down their control center, stat!"

"Vega!" Garrus called out.

The human responded eagerly, "Right on!"

They both directed their guns at the technicians manning the control center, but only managed to loosen a few shots before enemy heavy rounds suddenly hit and caused their kinetic barriers to nearly collapse. He just barely managed to see the raptors firing at him as he dived back down into cover.

Garrus cursed under his breath, waiting for his barrier to recharge. And was forced to listen at the sound of dying turians as they were sniped in turn. "Kakashi. Can you get there?"

"..." the Jonin was unresponsive for a moment. His attention directed at the sky as he sat there behind cover - a block of stone covered by bullet holes already. "She's one step ahead of us."

He looked up too, and managed to make out Tenten as she flew the distance between wherever she had launched from, and the bomb. "But why there?"

They exchanged glances.

"Oh... hell."

* * *

Kai Leng saw her too, and messaged for his assigned Mantis squadron to mobilize – held back until he could finally get a kalinin in sight. Even covered in that demon cloak he had been shown pictures of back in briefing, it was easy to see this one's female. She slipped out of sight, somewhere above the bomb.

"Sir." the technician at the furthest panel stood at attention with a crisp salute. "We are ready to arm the bomb."

"Do it." Once it's armed and timed, with cerberus certified encryption slapped into the mix, it would take a lot to disarm it. He watched the man turn to finish the process even as the occasional rain of bullets impacted their control center – courtesy of desperate attackers their forces would soon send to their early graves.

_Poof..._

The man was about to enter the final command which would start the countdown when the strange sound blasted through the area along with an enormous amount of white smoke. Kai Leng covered his face, and tried to discern whatever just happened.

But even he, one of the most feared assassins in the galaxy - and ever a stoic man – could not conceal his utter bewilderment as he stared upward to where the bomb is... or was supposed to be. It was gone. Completely.

A similar notion had spread throughout the battlefield. Attackers and defenders alike stopped everything they were doing to stare at the empty space where the bomb used to be.

Finally, Kai Leng looked to the pillar on the far side of the chasm and discerned the kalinin female. Cloak thin enough for him to see her bodily visage, as she twirled a large scroll above her in triumph. What happened – whatever did happen - was so ridiculous that it made the assassin drop-kick his stoicism to hell.

"You bitch!"

* * *

Garrus grimaced. At the moment all thought of enemy snipers was almost banished from his thoughts. Everyone were equally mesmerized and stunned by this unexpected development. So anti-climatic it boggled the mind. "I should have predicted this. A bomb strong enough to split a continent... How could she resist?"

"Did not quite think she would go so far either." Kakashi admitted once he had composed himself. "But I guess we don't have to worry about the bomb exploding now do we?"

"Exactly my thought." Vega shrugged. "So we killing the rest of these now, or what?"

They all looked to Tarquin, who looked as though he had himself dropped from orbit with his blank gawking expression – his subordinates similarly confounded.

"Yeah." Garrus drawled, his sniper rifle raised into position. "Let's do it." his voice was then lowered to a whisper; "Dibs on their snipers."

* * *

Meanwhile, Tenten celebrated quietly on top of the pillar, sporting a huge grin like this was her birthday. With arms wrapped around her scroll in a loving hug. "Whatever I said about you Tuchanka dear, I take it back. I take it all back. You're a real treasure chest."

She had been covertly interested in the bomb since she first heard of it. Debated on whether or not to appropriate it, but since the turians wanted to keep everything about it secret from the krogan. Surely they wouldn't mind.

_Oh~ Jidanda got nothing on this guy._

So deep her moment was that she cleanly ignored the outraged guy in black shouting from the far side of the chasm - even as most of his expletives were predominantly sexist. That is, until a Mantis slammed into her from the side and sent her flying. Too surprised to manifest her cloak's wings, she let it instead take the brunt of the impact – partially cushioned by the dunes of sand that so cover this planet.

"Ow... ow... ow. My rib." Tenten groaned painfully, clutching her side as she lied there. Writhing in slight agony till she opened her eyes and spied out the Mantis that had rammed into her. "That hurt... you."

_Okay... celebrating ain't the most intelligent thing to do in the middle of a battle. Shape up, girl_. She thought to herself, and piled back onto her feet just in time to see the man who had shouted at her just a little bit before, so close and with a sword in hand – which thinness she would have stopped to admire if it wasn't being directed at her throat. Naturally, she bent back to avoid getting slit and gutted, then leaped away with all the strength she could put in her legs – enough to carry her through the air till she met with the roof of a nearby low-set building.

Her first thought now was to heft her rifle and gun him down – except another Mantis flew in between them and flashed its powerful search-light at her. Strong enough to make the girl wince and step back – especially as it unloaded its ammunition at her. "Scratch that!" she pulled a scroll from her pocket and summoned a full dozen of those she took back at the krogan weapons cache. Fortunately the good old control plank she made back when she began to use more firearms than she could hold. Neon-blue chakra tendrils radiated from the plank and connected with the summoned weapons – all directed at the gunship she could barely see around the light. "Go and shine that thing at somebody else!" the girl cried out and squeezed the plank, followed by a thunderclap of a volley – all of the bullets in flight directed at the Mantis' cockpit.

It took two salvos before it finally pivoted and backed off.

The view however... did not improve. Less light, but the scenery was covered by at least a hundred cerberus' soldiers of various types – together with two newly arrived ATLAS. And three Mantis that prowled the sky above her.

And the man that tried to cut her head off just a minute ago closer than she liked, one of those gunships had lifted him onto the building along with a group of those pesky phantoms – the stylish guy with that angry sneer stood there with a heavy pistol aimed. "If you value your life, bitch..." he hissed with contempt.

As if to punctuate his threat, all within view trained their weapons on the lone girl who was seemingly trapped on the opposite side of the battlefield.

"... You will release the bomb now."

"Yeah... but there's a problem." Tenten took it with great cool, with one hand pointed at the man while the other rested on her hip. "You plan to blow a cavernous hole open on this planet that will be... rather troublesome to its natives."

"And you care for those filthy krogan more than you do for your own health?" Kai Leng asked harshly, his finger firm against the trigger. "Be smart, I got no compunction to put a round through your head."

"There is a problem with that too." the girl continued with a taunt of a smile.

Kai Leng narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"You assume..." she began, and brought out no less than four scrolls and threw them into the air. One pull, as if by the skillful use of string, and all four unfurled in unison.. "... that all of you tough brawny men got me outgunned."

Like it was with the bomb, white smoke exploded from the scrolls. Whatever was going on, Kai Leng did not plan to let her finish, "Let her have it!"_ To make up for our failure, we will present your corpse to the Illusive man!_

He, the phantoms and all else in range: Troopers, ATLAS, Mantis, all unloaded on the side of the building Tenten was visible at just a moment ago. Hundreds of bullets, explosive shells and missiles impacted the structure and pulverized it to such an extent that the assassins had to take several steps back to avoid getting caught up in the destruction.

For ten seconds they kept up this unrelenting barrage.. until their leader cried out a rapt, "Cease fire!"

Kai Leng sneered at the devastation. Half the building had been demolished. One impulse he felt was to laugh and gloat, but he held it in as he surveyed the damage.

His phantoms stepped past him, to try and find the corpse of the kalinin, if there was anything left of it after this. The smoke cleared gradually... and something caused the female assassins to halt. Kai Leng saw it. Everyone saw it. A corner of the structure still stood.. and on top of it, the visage of a girl appeared, she sat cross-legged on the floor and beheld them with what he assumed to be a strange smile... except it was not that... but a most devious smirk.

"Why didn't you die?" he almost spat.

"Because you assumed you could outgun me." she smoothly replied and flexed her arms. Now, there were two planks visible. One for each arm. "Here... I'll show you!" she articulated her arms with elbows against her waist, while her forearms were directed at the sky.

It was then that he and everyone else could see something strange that filled the view behind her. It looked like a wall at first, then a halo, or a stylized combat aura like those featured in ancient mythologies. But then Kai Leng noticed, and his jaw dropped. Realization had dawned on him. "Impossible.." he said with a tiny voice. The sight reminded him of an old Buddhist story in which Kannon was granted several thousand hands by Amida to aid those who suffer. Except this... is the opposite. This is the several thousand weapons with which to slay the living. Behind Tenten hovered an array of several thousand guns, all neatly lined up in a huge multiple-tiered halo.

_Sogu..._ Tenten thought with her biggest grin.. _Shin Ikutsu ka no Sen Ju._

It was with immense pleasure that she watched some of her opponents start to back away.

"I will show you..." she finally said, "That there is nothing on this world and the next that can outgun me. Least of all you!"

* * *

**Author notes**: Sorry about the lateness of this update. Moved house recently, and have had great difficulty getting used to the difference in atmosphere from a basement room and a room on the top floor with over-sized windows. It's the heat. Kept forcing me to take several hours of siesta (without the nap involved) every day due to the unbearable heat.

**Review response:**

**Hochmeister: **First, thanks for the (extremely) generous review.

Regarding tenses I can do little but to agree. Trying to amend it, but it ain't easy. But I don't have nearly enough time to do another big repair as I used to. Last time it took weeks. And now, I got other projects too that I want to update within a reasonable timespan. Sufficed to say, thanks for the offer.. but as long as the story is readable, I'm satisfied I guess.

I was in luck regarding how they chose to portray the Protheans. It made things much easier in regard to what happened back then in this story.

As for Madara, it is still up in the air. He entered the story long before the reveal, so he was supposed to be the genuine article. Now, I'm trying to choose. On the other hand I agree that he does not seem like that big a threat right now, but for some reason it is much easier on my part to make villains such as Kabuto serious threats. Madara just strikes me as... eh.

Not much else I'm able to say right now. But again, thank you.


	62. Chapter 62

**Chapter 62**

* * *

The signal eventually came for them to descend, and the pilot eased their shuttle out of the Normandy, en route to the hollows. It was a long moment of wait, and once out, Eve cast a sidelong glance out the window, upon her world below. A nuclear-blasted wasteland which harshness knew no end even before the krogan thoughtlessly bombed it till it was but a ball of sand and sun-blasted rock. A people that barely ever did anything to alleviate this.

_My people.._. Eve thought with no feelings attached to it. Not even sentimental ones.

A snore drew her attention away from the view with a hint of alarm, and stared with one eye at the salarian who sat next to her – who had found the moment to fall asleep. She thought he looked like he was on the verge of it before as they entered the craft, and hoped it was just her mind playing tricks on her. The timing was too horrible to imagine. Salarian nap time never lasted long, but this is one that could not end soon enough. She knocked a huge fist against the wall, "Cannot this crate go any faster?"

The pilot tried to look past his shoulder as best as a krogan could do in his bemusement, "We are already traveling as fast as we can, as protocol dictates in this situation."

True to his word, the planet had grown to fill the view as they punched into the planet's atmosphere, shuttle shaking lightly till element zero fields adjusted and yet again ensured a smooth ride.

"Not nearly fast enough..." Eve annoyingly observed as Mordin began to mutter, very deeply, in his sleep. He is a good person, but a few of his habits was really vexing... and his sleep-talking is arguably the worst. In this moment and this moment alone, sitting next to a reaper would have been much more relaxing. Their pilot did not know, so he merely grimaced and focused on flying this junk to the surface. Hopefully, but not likely, he would get away from this without getting scarred for life.

Eve looked out the window and did her darned best to ignore her friend's muttering voice. A thought lingering in the back of her mind:

_How are things going down there?_

* * *

_How are things going down there?_

Those exact words played over in the depths of his mind with the Illusive man's voice as he took in the sight of the kalinin he stood before – complete with multiple slowly rotating halos made entirely of firearms. Her boast, which she is more than able to back up, helped make an already considerable sight all that much more overwhelming.

_Up shit creek, sir._ Kai Leng thought with terror-enforced grimness, _And down hell boulevard._

"Is that a fact?" he mustered the question in defiance, though the thinness of his voice made it a whole lot weaker than intended.

For a reply, the girl simply smirked, and with the flick of her fingers, all of those guns stopped facing outward and tilted in his and subordinates' general direction - across the entire theater. And of those, no less than two hundred and fifty-three assault rifles were pointed at him alone.

_Okay..._ Kai Leng inwardly - and self-admittedly - whimpered. _Time to run, like, hell..._

Immediately after the decision was made, and his brain remembered it still got four limbs to its name, he threw himself off the roof, and fell. Composure shattered for an instant as an overly loud thunderclap shocked through the area, accompanied by a piercing shudder as his kinetic barrier collapsed, and pain let itself unfold across his side and shoulder he just happened to present to the girl – and realized that the thunderclap, and the cacophony of screams and rubble blasted to pieces that followed was caused by the girl unloading a single bullet... from every weapon in her arsenal... simultaneously. Only a fraction of what was aimed at him managed to score hits, or there would had been nothing left of him other than red mist – a fate which his phantoms that were there with him had surely suffered.

Kai Leng almost panicked, arms and legs flailed for anything to slow him as he fell, and found little purchase other than a metal beam that stuck out of the broken wall like a sore thumb. He grabbed it, and clenched his teeth in agony as momentum and gravity nearly dislocated his shoulder, then let go and fell what distance remained.

Only hard piled-up concrete and rock were there to greet him, but it could have been worse. A look from his momentarily prone position as he gathered strength to get up revealed that a cloud of dust had largely obscured the area, which wasn't there a moment ago. And was just barely able to see an ATLAS over there as it fell backward, its driver pulped as its canopy had been crumpled inward by an inordinate amount of small-arms fire. Beyond it there came a booming crash as one of the Mantis prowling the skies crashed and burst into flames.

"Come on..." he heard the girl's sultry voice above as she walked onto the very edge and looked down on him. "Be a man and take it." Tenten arced an arm, and a slew of those guns came about to aim down at him – gathering and moving as though those things were an arm by themselves.

He was only saved as a surviving Mantis came about and strafed her position with its nose-mounted machine gun. And the 'arm' that was aimed at him instead flipped around, with a whole lot of firearms added to its build, used as a shield against the withering hail. Ruined guns clattered to the ground as parts of said shield were broken apart.

Kai Leng used this lull, got up, and ran as best he could with his injuries. Up in the air, the gunship ceased fire and tried to veer away. He watched with slight fascination as another thunderclap came, and the Mantis' canopy almost seemed as though it vanished, along with the pilot's head. Without that, all the thing could do was roll over and crash. Witnessing such accuracy against a moving target, he ran harder with the hope that all this dust obscured her from her view. If not, he could up and die at any moment now. Another metal-wrenching crash followed as the final Mantis was gunned down.

It was a silent moment that followed, except the sound of the distant gunfight with the turians. Kai Leng felt somewhat paranoid with fear, but kept running, on lookout for escape routes. "Come out, come out wherever you are~" her voice sang with a soft giggle, almost ghostly – sounding both so distant, and all too close, as though she walked right behind him. The feeling of being a rabbit at a hunter's mercy all too present to his liking.

Salvation only came as he spotted a manhole, and dropped himself into it. Monstrous relief surging as he found this sewer section to be in quite a good shape, and ran down along the pipe that stretched up ahead. Hopeful that the teenage kalinin hadn't seen him, or followed his blood trail. Glad to be still alive, he began to plot for his next move.

He would signal for evac, and get the wounds treated before he bleeds out. Even if this particular part of the operation failed, spectacularly so, there are still much that needed to be done. Much that could still succeed.

* * *

Only a smattering of troopers remained now. Ominous thunderclaps and clouds of dust had come from the opposite side of the battlefield. It was not known exactly what had happened, but Garrus believed it was Tenten's handiwork – especially with how those Mantis gunships began to drop from the sky. He counted them: _One, two, three... sky's clear._

The enemy had lost their air support during whatever went down, and had most likely taken heavy losses on the ground too as there was no sound of gunfire. Still, Garrus took the good news with piercing calm as he gunned down what appeared to be the last sniper, upon which he finally smirked in light satisfaction. Incoming fire from enemy lines had slackened significantly, so much so that he barely needed to duck anymore. And with a salvo from Vega, the last trooper in their immediate view fell with a grunt of pain.

Confident about their odds, Tarquin signaled for a cautious advance, and what remained of his troops began a gradual abandonment of their current positions, covering each others as they went. Which was a decent all-out battle had quickly turned into a lethal game of hide and seek as the turians stalked after their heavily diminished enemy.

"We should go too..." Garrus stated as he carefully probed the area for anything that might take a less than healthy interest in him before getting up. "Vega, take point! Kakashi, with me!"

"About that..." Vega said with a very slight hint of hesitation, but otherwise managed to sport a wry grin. "He just bailed out on us, again."

Garrus' mandibles clicked as he looked to where he last saw the kalinin, and could only see a very empty piece of ground. "Oh, you got to be-"

The human was prompt to interrupt him, "Want to go find him?"

"Son of a... yes." he said as the firefight picked up again, though on its last and final leg. "Bypass all that we can. Gonna give him the biggest earful of his life."

"Right behind you."

"No, _in front_ of me."

"Hah. Gotcha." Vega mirthfully laughed as they hurried – cautiously - on.

* * *

It was a grisly sight that awaited him. The armored corpses of Cerberus troops littered the area, shot to pieces or heavily damaged from what seemed like an excessive use of small-arms' fire. A number of ATLAS could be seen among them, and appeared undamaged with their still-running engines till he got a good look at their cockpits. The Mantis' gunships however were much more thoroughly roughed up.

Kakashi continued on his way at a nearly relaxed pace as he approached the gigantic chakra signature he could see plain as day through this persistent cloud of red-colored dust with his sharingan. "Oi, Tenten. You doing well?"

"... Never felt better." Tenten's distant voice replied with no small amount of smugness.

When he came close enough to see her visage, he momentarily mistook the massive halo around her for a mass of chakra radiating from her. It slightly alarmed him until the extensive chakra signature that stretched out around her were merely an absurdly high number of energy strands that connected to the weaponry she still had out. Seeing the thousands of firearms, he understood what caused the earlier thunderclaps, and why the bodies were so... reduced.

"I see you've had a real field day up here."

Tenten grinned heartily, "Eh-yup. Should have seen their faces... though when I think about it, I only that one guy's face."

"Think I saw him. Is he here somewhere?"

"Nah. Managed to hit him, but he slipped away."

Kakashi watched her evenly, "And that annoys you, doesn't it?"

"Yeah." the girl returned a sharp look, "Next time I'll put him down!"

"Hm. That aside, I wonder..." he wondered, "... must had been quite a job to supply sinks for so many weapons?"

"Ah. Luckily most of these babies already had thermal clips in 'em. I admit, even with appropriate tags, to keep arming them is going to be a chore." Tenten clarified, her tone turned more eager. "But this pales before the real treasure I found down there."

"Uh-huh." Kakashi drawled.

"Yep, but I won't tell. Consider it a surprise." the girl winked giddily, "Got huge plans! Really _really_ huge plans for it!"

He wasn't sure whether to be unsurprised, or worried. If it results in greater firepower for herself, then it is fine... as long as it does not blow up their ship.

"Hey you!" the very recognizable voice of Garrus rather exasperatedly cried out to them. The visage of both a human and turian visible as they marched within viewing distance. "Kakashi!"

"Oh, I know, sorry about that." the Jonin hollered his apology, scratching the back of his head while doing so.

"I told you..." Garrus shouted as he and Vega came closer, "I told you to tell us before you disappeared..." only to be deflated in the anger department at the sight that awaited them, at which their pace noticeably slowed as they gawked, "... again. Holy..."

"Awesome, isn't it?" the brunette beamed.

"Hah..." Vega was the only one to muster a laugh, "Got a nice set there lady guns."

"Lady guns?"

"Yeah, a lot of guns. And yer..."

"Call me that anymore and I'll shoot you. A lot. Starting with your feet."

"Er, okay." Vega raised his - unarmed - hands and chuckled nervously as he took a step back, especially as the entire array twitched in his direction, specifically at his lower limbs. "Gotcha."

Garrus tore his gaze away finally and only as someone shouted "Clear!" in the background before what remained of Tarquin's forces came from past the hill, sifting through the bodies scattered everywhere. Only a few stopped and simply stared. Among them was Tarquin himself. Without a word, Garrus raised an arm and beckoned to him.

Tarquin noticed and came right away. He closed the distance in a hurry, slowed as he got closer, and was also similarly stunned by the view before he coughed and composed himself: "Girl, where's the bomb?"

"Got it nicely tucked away." Tenten hummed delightfully.

The officer nodded, frowning as he did. "I need you to hand it over."

"No way Jose." she refused sternly. "I'm keeping it."

"Be nice, Tenten." Kakashi mildly chastised her.

At this refusal, Tarquin simply stared and was about to argue further – eyes wary - when Garrus interjected: "How about we just let her hold onto it for the time being?"

"That bomb is property of the Hierarchy." the officer insisted.

"And a political shit storm of planet-shattering degrees about to happen." the fellow turian countered smoothly. "If the krogan finds out our ancestors planted a bomb..."

Tarquin frowned as he considered. "... Point taken." he finally decided. "Okay girl... you get to hold onto it, for now."

Garrus nodded approvingly, "A wise choice."

"Yeah, good choice." Tenten seconded lamely as she turned and wandered away, not enthused with the possibility of having to give the bomb away. "Now if you excuse me, I got to pack all this gear."

Kakashi watched them for a moment as it just sort of drifted apart with the conclusion of their conversation, and decided to follow the girl and help her. Behind, he heard Garrus call out; "Vega, go and help with their wounded. I'll let Shepard know our mission's accomplished."

"Roger that, boss man."

* * *

Kai Leng coughed as he cleared the final pipe and found the shuttle he had called for, with medics spilling out to collect him for immediate treatment. He brushed them off for long enough to get on board, "Open a link to Onyx-One." he growled to the pilot. Onyx-One being the leader of the operatives spying within the hollows.

"Roger." the pilot replied curtly and sought to contact the operative in question.

But it took longer than the agent liked. "What's the hold up?"

"Er... cannot establish contact."

"Try again..." he grunted, partly in pain as the medic to the side opened his suit.

"No response, sir."

He bit a curse. _They've been found out?_ "Tch... take us to Alpha group, and make it fast."

_How much more could go wrong? Damn it!_

* * *

In a corner of the mighty hollows, a battalion's worth of krogan stomped and shuffled about, cleaning up after the latest battle and preparing for the next one. But despite the shouting of many superiors and the occasional battle master, there were groups of krogan that were simply there and talked. About this, about that, about anything that comes to mind.

A group in a distant corner was especially animate in their conversation till a strange creature wandered in and around them, patting a hand on each as it did. The members of the group huffed and growled to various extents at the intrusive behavior of the strange but deeply solemn alien, "What do you-?!" one shouted, and was almost shocked to silence as the figure patted the last one, and proceeded to raise a pistol and callously killed the soldier with a single bullet to the head.

This of course provoked a fierce reaction from the other krogan till the corpse hit the floor, and suddenly transformed into an armored human – minus most of its head.

Stunned they all were by this strange revelation, and barely able to respond as Javik scowled them all down before he moved on. "How are things coming along, Javik?" Shepard asked as he appeared as if out of nowhere and crouched by the felled body.

"I have found six operatives so far." the prothean reported matter-of-fact. In a way, this little grisly duty had turned out to be rather amusing.

"Good." the commander replied as he stood back up and motioned for the corpse to be removed. "We'll have less trouble later on once this place is clinically clean of spies."

Javik shrugged, "Of course."

Shepard wrinkled his brow as a transmission came in, and pressed his ear to respond; "Trouble at the hangar? I'm coming."

"Trouble?"

"Just some krogan getting uppity about Mordin."

"So they've come."

"Yeah." Shepard turned to leave, "Keep cleaning this place up, I'll clear up the mess over there."

"Naturally." Javik shrugged again as he looked over the hall, muttering a few more words in his own language as he decided on where to continue.

* * *

Eve was less than pleased. No sooner had the shuttle made way into the hollows' makeshift hangar and landed before things turned on their collective ass - aside from their pilot, who just barely managed to land before he fainted in terror. Once the hatch opened and Mordin was discovered, they were immediately surrounded by angry krogan. Many heavily armed krogan. Among them being Wrex's brood brother, Wreav.

"Salarian..." the less than charitable krogan gruffly growled, it was plain to see he bristled at Mordin's presence.

Eve nodded, "Yes. He is here to cure us."

"And naps while we fight and die." Wreav hissed in disgust as he grabbed the female by her arm and tugged her out of the shuttle, and out of the way before he motioned to step in himself, obviously looking for an excuse – any excuse – to give the alien a beating for all the suffering his species had put the krogan through.

Eve returned a harsh glare that could have drilled a hole through the thick fortress walls. It was certainly impressive enough to make several warriors take a step from her, but Wreav did not even budge. "Wreav..."

"Hmpf.." he ignored her and climbed into the shuttle, shotgun drawn.

Eve watched him and thought to give a warning. Mordin's more terrible asleep than he ever is awake. "Wreav..." she repeated, but was too late. She heard a a deep voice growl something, and could not help but smile nervously. Wreav came out momentarily, and shuddered with a blank stare, like he had just seen the most horrifying thing in his life. He just barely got out before he collapsed to his knees, muttering incoherently.

The surrounding warriors were perturbed by this unexpected development. Angry at their leader, a trio of warriors climbed in next – ignoring Eve's pleas in the process – only for it to repeat with them as well. A few moments and a sleepy growl later, the warriors stumbled back out. Just like their leader, they fell upon the ground... one of which tried to point a gun at his own head as though he had learned something he could not live on knowing, but was fortunately saved by those of his comrades who hadn't gone in.

From then on, no one dared to come aboard, and instead advocated blowing up the shuttle, salarian and all. Cure or not.

Luckily, they did not manage to go that far before Shepard arrived. With a deeply irritated Wrex close behind.

"What the hell is going on here?!" the Warlord glowered angrily at all the warriors that crowded the shuttle – though they had fallen back at least a dozen feet from it by then.

"No problem anymore." Eve said, amused. "It kind of solved itself just fine."

"If everyone's here." Shepard half-declared, "Then we should go and start the briefing."

Eve was about to inform them about Mordin's current state, but Wrex, being Wrex, cut in.

"Huh?" Wrex hissed as he walked up to his brother and warriors that were still on the ground, rambling silently. "What is wrong with you?! Stuff gotten too tough for ya?"

Wreav said nothing in reply, instead he remained with head-plate pressed against the floor - shuddering.

"They tried to take out their frustrations on Mordin, but came up short." the female explained.

Wrex looked at her, slightly perplexed as he looked through the hatch – seeing the salarian napping in his seat. "What? But he's asleep. Why the hell is he asleep?!"

"Um, Wrex..."

But the warlord paid her no attention as he climbed in, "Hey, pyjak-!"

"What's the matter?" Shepard asked her, puzzled.

It did not take very long before Wrex came back out and collapsed right next to his brood brother. Gasping and muttering in fright.

"That." Eve pointed out, not surprised.

Shepard grimaced at the strangely hilarious sight before he went to the shuttle, and climbed in. He thought there was something in there that caused the strange malady, but only found an unconscious krogan whose face were locked in a mask of fear... and Mordin, talking in his sleep.

Sighing, the commander ventured closer to wake the professor. But before he could, the salarian opened his mouth and spoke with a very deep and menacing tone; "Reverse... genetic strand...? No, no. No. No. No. No! Results in inside-out krogan... not efficient."

He briefly contemplated the oddity of what he heard before he gently shoved the salarian, enough to wake him.

"Huh?" Mordin started. "Where am I...? Why am I here? …" he narrowed his eyes, "Where's Maelon?"

"Mordin?" Shepard asked, puzzled.

The old professor blinked confusedly before he seemed to clear up. "Ah, commander. Good to see you remain in good health."

"You too. But I believe it is time we go and have our briefing. You've worked out a delivery method for the cure?"

"Ah, yes. Of course. Complicated. But it will work. Shall we get going?"

Nodding, they vacated the shuttle. Eve echoed the motion as she saw Mordin leave the shuttle with not a scrape on him. However, he came to stare at the krogan on the ground.

"Is there a problem? Sickness? Injury?"

"Some mental scarring." Shepard shrugged and gave Wrex a light kick on the side, "Coming, Wrex?"

The warlord barely managed a gasp; "I'll be there... give me a minute to recollect my nerves."

It did not occur to Mordin what was truly at fault here. And as they walked out, Eve thanked Aralakh that salarians didn't sleep any more than the tiny amount they already did.

* * *

The command post, as makeshift as one could make it, was a mess from the tremors of the preceding battle. Much of the time waiting for the Urdnot brothers to recover and come over was thus spent preparing.

A thick layer of dust lay on the floor along with plenty rubble no one bothered to pick up, though Eve did frown at the lack of cleanliness of it - a little more used to a well-cleaned environ after her stay on Sur'Kesh.

Shepard grunted as he helped Mordin pull the outdated junk that the locals called a holographic projector onto the slab of rock it had previously been on. The projector had more sharp edges than a Swiss knife, and covered with rust almost everywhere except its upper glass-like surface.

Once there, Mordin rebooted the thing and shifted the image away from the fortress they're in. Frowning as this took as much brute force and finesse as it did luck. Shepard on the other hand took a step back and watched as the image constantly shifted, intensely curious as to what the salarian had come up with – he understood from the get-go that standard inoculation of cure would be too time-consuming. They needed something faster than that.

Thankfully, before long Wrex and his brood brother finally came stomping in.

"Now... ahem, let's get this on the road." Wrex announced as he strode to the table. Acting as though they hadn't gone through what happened earlier.

She wasn't easy to read, but Eve seemed to be on the verge of laughing at the Warlord's awkwardness, "Of course."

Ignoring her, Wrex went straight to the projector and glowered at Mordin – partially because the amphibian had managed to both traumatize and humiliate him, though every other victim sympathized. "What's the plan now?" the question was aimed at the salarian and commander equally as much.

Shepard leaned against the projector lightly, "Mordin?"

The professor looked up mid-work, "I have looked through all the options. Conventional method too inefficient. Will utilize same method used for genophage." the image finally stilled, with a tall and smooth structure that strongly contrasted everything around it – only matched in size by the monumental reapers in its presence. A trio of destroyers, all of those that had retreated from prior battle, surrounded the structure. It was not immediately clear why... "The Shroud was built to help restore Tuchanka's atmosphere. Most viable vector for cure distribution."

Neither krogan were pleased to hear the Shroud had been used for such a purpose.

"Currently used by reapers to _damage_ atmosphere."

The commander nodded in understanding. Now he understood why those reapers stood guard instead of simply demolishing the tower. He put no word to his thoughts though, and simply let the salarian continue.

"Eve and I need to get in. Stop release of poison. Synthesize cure in lab at tower base. Release cure. Happy ending." he shrugged, "But will need to distract reapers first so we can move in."

Shepard grinned, "We got three kalinin that can do much more than distract them."

He got a small grin in return: "Minimal parameters required for operation success. The Shroud must not take damage."

"There are going to be a lot more than reapers down there." Wrex muttered, "Armies of husks to bar our way. And there is still Cerberus."

"The anti-orbital cannon has been secured. And the other business has been taken care of as well." Shepard counted, careful about not mentioning why the primarch's son is on the planet. "But they might still have a presence."

"Crazed idiots..." the krogan warlord said under his breath. "We'll deal with them when the time comes." he sneered, and tapped the holographic table. Several Tomkahs appeared along with turian fighters hovering above them – all facing the reapers. "We'll hit them from the ground and air simultaneously – but reserve the sixth company to guard against Cerberus attacks. Your kalinin, Shepard, may do as they like – so long as the Shroud doesn't get trashed." Wrex looked to Shepard - who nodded in approval - and his brother. "Let the turians know about this plan, Shepard. Wreav, prepare the troops - and tell the ninth they will act as reserves, but to intercept any detected Cerberus activity. We move out within the hour!"

He looked at the image of the reapers so sternly his gaze could have nailed them to the table.

"Time we take the fight to them."

* * *

**Author notes:** Yes, it took agonizingly long to put this together. Normally I'd get back to this story sooner, but went ahead and wrote two chapters to one of my other stories. Plus, a game came out recently that I ended up playing almost non-stop - aside from all other everyday stuff, chores and work - and still rather are. So it took much longer to assemble this. Thought to have Wrex do a speech at the end of this chapter, but it'll have to wait till next chapter instead.


	63. Chapter 63

**Chapter 63**

* * *

"I see." the Illusive man glowered with disappointment almost palpable. He and Elena at his side had listened to the wounded Kai Leng who now communicated with them via a portable QEC – Quantum Entanglement Communicator – from Tuchanka, a medic tending to the man with very directed dedication to the point of ignoring anything they said.

The regional anti-orbital cannon had been lost to the enemy. The bomb he wanted set off stolen away at the last moment. And all of their infiltrators among the krogan ranks had been silenced in rapid succession.

All of this so soon after Shepard arrived, courtesy also of his kalinin allies.

The Illusive man's gaze fell into the glass of wine he pensively held, frustration building up on the extent to which Zeus Project had failed and backfired on him, and ruthlessly crushed the feeling as he looked back up and shot Kai Leng a neon-blue glare.

"Where are you currently?"

"Deep inside the ruins just beyond the perimeter set up by the reapers, sir." the assassin responded with head held low. "I have marshaled all remaining on-world forces to intercept krogan forces when they arrive. We will trap Shepard along with his allies between us and the reapers. It is... as optimal a strategy for their destruction as I can imagine with what resources I have on hand."

"So it is." the Illusive man rumbled, though with class as he took a sip of wine. "Do whatever it takes to stop them from releasing the cure – that is your primary objective."

The wounded man bowed as deeply as he could manage, "It will be done!"

Communication was shut off, and he looked to Elena. "What is the status of group IG-64?"

She looked over the data-pad in hand, "They should arrive at Sur'Kesh within the next day."

"Any complication so far?"

"None. Their information network has merit, but cannot wholly compete with the reaper algorithms we employ."

Pleased, the Illusive man took another sip. "Good. Though the dalatrass' formidable reluctance to commit the Union's forces to the war is a real boon to our cause, it is best to make sure this state of mind remains – permanently."

_And we will have her removed and replaced with an infiltrator to make it so._

* * *

Gaalsarc Usorc was meticulous as he ran a final check on the roster as his and all other available shuttles departed from the freighter they had so briefly used from here to Sur'Kesh and back again.

Casualties were expected, but not to such treachery. Nakmor Uvenk and Ravanor Suruk dead. Two battle masters and their krantts crushed by Cerberus. Add the other losses they sustained by the enemy's underhanded methods and a lot less returned home than left it.

No one envied his newly appointed position as leader of the ninth battalion, but Usorc did not mind it. In fact, he relished it. The ninth's job is to stay in the rear and repulse any Cerberus interference over the course of the operation.

After what happened on Sur'Kesh, nothing would please him more than the opportunity to dole out some pain to those secretive bastards.

Looking forward to exactly that, the ancient battle master zoned out what came in over the speakers. A speech led by Warlord Wrex as the final preparations continued. Elders such as himself did not need it to stay motivated, it was mostly for younger warriors that almost universally hung onto every word.

The difference was obvious, as the young never knew a time when the genophage did not hang over their heads and so could not properly imagine how it was without it – but the elders do, and want more than most to see it gone.

Usorc looked out the window, looking tentatively for the shuttles that carried his 'lieutenants' of the ninth; Gatatog Asul and Quash Tosc – the latter whom was robbed of the chance to fight on Sur'Kesh and wanted nearly as much payback against Cerberus as he himself did.

Once they rendezvous with the ninth, they will all get that chance.

That leaves just one little issue.

* * *

Shikamaru tried to keep his groans to himself as he gazed a hawkish stare out the canopy, and occasionally the radar – though it was very unreliable in this instance. The Reapers were a known quantity already, strangely enough. They did not hide so much or conceal their intentions, and for that alone he found little reason but appreciate them.

Cerberus however is a different quantity altogether. That they now have wide access to stealth ships and has gotten a whole lot more sneaky in their dealings did not sit well with him at all. Who knows how many of their ships are supporting their planet-side troops. Crafts that could zip out of the night and put a round through their comparatively antiquated Lance of the Six Paths without the remotest chance of a response.

All he could count on was for the Illusive man to want them back in a lab for study rather than vaporize them. Except that, their continued safety relied on the much more advanced Normandy that remained with them – the krogan-owned freighter on the other hand didn't count. Like them it was just a big target.

"Where are they?!" Onoki shouted in a commanding tone as he marched into the bridge and sat his diminutive frame on the comparatively sizable captain's seat. "Where are the turians?"

Then there's that. Primarch Victus' promised air support hasn't materialized yet. But that friend of Shepard, Wrex, decided to give the operation the go-ahead anyway. Either that is par for the course about krogan, or the presence of jinchuriki are making him confident. Despite that, having air support is better than be without it.

Shikamaru involuntarily shivered at the memory of their end war, and privately wondered if it could have gone differently if they had had some decent air force.

"It would seem that they have been delayed." Nagato communicated his response through Deva path, most of its attention on the communications' console.

"By what?" Onoki growled, folding his arms. "That is what I want to know."

"Haven't got a clue. I'll try to ask the Primarch again... Should I tell him his son's in good health as well?"

"In all likelihood he's already aware."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, thinking on all the news received so far. And admittedly, that Temari had some painful flashbacks down there came to him as an entirely unsurprising development. A huge sand-covered wasteland so much like what the land of wind turned into after the geth invasion started, of course something would happen.

Maybe it was Nagato's intent to make her loosen up.

That was just conjecture, and he was in no hurry to ask for clarification. It was too much of a drag.

"Hold it a sec, I need to make a call!" Mei loudly declared as she came and pushed her way into the bridge almost faster than the door could slide open.

Every path along with Onoki regarded her placidly from almost every direction while she stormed for Deva path, or more exactly the console it sat at. "You look like you got some beast snapping at your heel." Nagato murmured with a curious glance, "What seems to be the problem?"

"We need a shuttle." she put her hands on hips and glared sternly, "Is any of our teams down there available?"

"... Kakashi's team completed their mission a while ago. They're just staying with the Primarch's son until..."

"Tell them to come back up here, now."

Onoki glared and elected to speak up here, "May I ask why?"

"Just do it, we got an emergency on our hands."

Looks were exchanged before Deva path obliged and established contact, "Team Kakashi, this is the Lance of the Six Paths, do you read me?"

A short moment passed before the man's drawl of a voice erupted from the speakers. "Team Kakashi here. What's up?"

"We got a situation." Mei leaned over Deva path's shoulder, "Could you disengage and come back up here post-haste?"

"Uh," the Jonin replied like his attention pulled away to everywhere else. "what kind of situation?"

"We got a newly awakened one in an extremely foul mood. Come up and take him to the surface before he tears the infirmary and all else adjacent to it apart. Kisame's trying to restrain him, and I'd rather not let him resort to the samehada..."

All else winced, and Onoki shot Shikamaru a meaningful look. "Boy, get down there and lend the poor guy a hand. Nagato, take his seat."

Twin affirmatives replied. Shikamaru more than willing to surrender his seat to the Animal path – on his way out as Kakashi made his reply:

"Understood, but let me tell Tarquin to hunker down first."

Shikamaru was secretly glad to have left the bothersome tension behind, barely able to hear Mei's grateful response as he hurried down the corridor. That relief however died when he got to the infirmary... and found out who Kisame's practically fighting in there.

Sufficed to say, the pilot's seat's attractiveness grew by an order of magnitude.

* * *

"Move out!" the rough voice boomed from all speakers, responded to by the roaring voice of hundreds as well as the growl of great columns after more columns of heavy vehicles that made ground-based engines of war made by the others most diminutive by comparison, predominantly Tomkahs, thundered out from the bowels of the Hollows. And even greater a noise as Wrex put the punctuation to his speech; "We got reapers that needs killing!"

Dust and sand were kicked into the air as the massive carpet of armored vehicles left the one piece of neutral ground of Tuchanka behind, the corpses of long-dead synthetics crushed beneath their large wheels and wreckage smashed aside. A massive formation that slowly split into three separate forces, two regiments apiece. Each headed in a different direction, but all with one destination in mind.

Temari watched idly, with her gun-headed fan kept close, from the back of the lead Tomkah, as Shepard paced back and forth, speaking to the Primarch whose voice carried uninhibitedly through the compartment.

"Primarch, we need those fighters."

"And you will have it, commander." Victus replied in utter regret. "The forces sent from Palaven were... delayed... by reaper traffic."

Mordin shrugged, greeting this piece of news with a complete absence of surprise. Temari understood why, though inexperienced with this new world she had awoken to. It was the fault of those mass relays, gigantic bottlenecks that narrows space travel for both good and ill.

"How much longer?" Shepard asked the inevitable question. "We are already on the move. Those cruisers got an hour at most before we arrive at the target area."

"You will have it around that time." the Primarch swore, "That I swear!"

"... It better," the commander said with no hard feelings attached. "we won't be able to sustain the offensive for long enough to accomplish the mission without them."

"The Hierarchy cannot afford to see you fail, Shepard." absolute solemnity saturating Victus' tone, "They will be there."

Shepard eased his finger off the earpiece, "Wrex. Is there anything we should know about the area around the shroud?"

"Nothing much to tell." Eve answered for him, "It is the site of an ancient city that date all the way back to the time before we invented nuclear weapons. It still stands, built solidly in the presence of a beast that lives in the sandy seas of the region – one that could now be considered... a navigational hazard."

"What kind of hazard?"

"Kalros." Wrex answered with a little grin, "In all the galaxy, there is no thresher maw greater. It is the wrath of Tuchanka personified. It was the whole reason the Shroud was erected there."

"A thresher maw..." Shepard wasn't too enthused. "How was the city built if it is that Kalros' nesting ground?"

"Maybe there was a whole lot of mountains to build stuff on... Bah, how should I know?"

"It doesn't matter how it was built." Eve shook her head sadly, "But it represents what the krogan used to be, what I hope that we can become again."

Temari tuned out their conversation as it continued onto thoughts of plans and politics for the future. Her attention instead fully diverted onto the closer Javik when he produced a derisive snort, "What it represents, is no more than the monument of a failed species."

It came as a low whisper, so it attracted no attention from the conversational participants over yonder. "A bumpy history doesn't make them a failure, Javik." she told him with slight indignance, locking her gaze with his, or at least two of his eyes.

"Do you speak... from experience?" he lazily jibed.

"Not with entire species," Temari quietly admitted. "But I have seen my share of people I deemed to be failures, only to be taken aback at what they could do."

"Is that so?" Javik rolled his eyes.

"In case of point... Naruto."

This time, she got a reaction more to her liking. _Yes, one of our reaper-killers._

"When I first saw him, he was just a weakly nobody. A pathetic failure of a shinobi. But then he beat my brother who all of us thought was an invincible monster." she sighed, "My point is... that the krogan is a failure is no more than an opinion. Yes, they've had a troublesome history. Yes, they live amidst ruins. But their dreams are real, their ambitions are real, their strengths are real, their determination... is real. Despite all their hardship, they still remain unbroken. And they may yet still surprise us."

"How deep." the alien cocked his head slightly to the side, chuckling under his breath. "Very well, we shall see. Won't we?"

Temari nodded, and flinched as something in the back suddenly fired sparks into the compartment, followed by indignant curses from their driver.

"What the hell?" Wrex growled in blunt irritation at the inconvenience. "Did you not do a checkup before we left?"

"I did." the driver insisted, staring back at the damage from the periphery of his vision, "Doesn't look serious though. Someone take over for me and I will have it fixed!"

Before anyone could react, Shepard had already volunteered, and quickly switched seat with the driver who stomped back through the vehicle – ignorant of what he had just set loose. Mordin immediately fastened his seat belt, and told Eve to do the same. Simultaneously, sensing an overwhelming sensation of ominous dread, both Javik and Temari followed suit – all done in the space of a couple of seconds while Wrex turned pale and whipped around with arm raised, his expression colored by undisguised trepidation:

"Shepard, don't!"

* * *

Kai Leng observed the ancient city from the uppermost floor of an outlying structure in utter silence, granting a commanding view most of what will soon become a battlefield, his forces making full use of underground passages to move into the area relatively unnoticed.

Neither of the forces before him invested nearly as much in subtlety as already a large cloud could be seen rolling in over the horizon, courtesy of the encroaching krogan forces.

In response, a large army of husks began to seep into the open. Dozens of packs with multitudes of husks, cannibals and marauders swarmed through the streets followed by many brutes and the insect-like ravagers.

Harvesters flew in from the shroud to deposit even more troops on the city 'isles' that would soon be besieged, among them stout and many-legged constructs that might be their equivalent of tanks. The things looked like a twisted mishmash of species like those brutes, with krogan and rachni as the primary components. There were also a few Oculus in the air, though those kept themselves in the vicinity of the shroud itself – around which the three Destroyers still on the planet huddled. Guarding it while receiving hasty repairs to damaged sections.

There was one surprise however, when one of the destroyers suddenly rose to the air and started a slow advance through the city on a heading not directed at the krogan mechanized forces. Kai Leng wondered what it might be planning, but whatever it was could only be beneficial to Cerberus' goal.

No matter what, this has to become a win.

* * *

She has been trying to take a short nap for a while, but it seemed the world was dead-set to not let her take the moment to rest.

Nearly forty minutes had passed. And nearly as long since that odd rumor of the lead Tomkah that somehow, and very briefly, shrugged off reality for long enough to do a barrel roll circulated, and was settled with measured nods of acceptance like it was supposed to make sense just because Shepard's the one at the wheel.

Not even further reports of insane heavy vehicular acrobatics did more than raise the volume of the warriors' collective amusement. Disbelief did not even register in their minds nor features at all.

Hinata blinked in vague perplexity hidden behind a polite smile as the extremely heavily armed, grim, and rugged warriors they shared this Tomkah with – each covered all over by almost as much armor as the APC around them did – laughed raucously at simple gossip.

"Really?!" Naruto just chimed in, he had also been swept up by the current mood – almost jumping in his seat as he addressed a haggard krogan of Urdnot old enough to be his thirteen plus great grandfather's grandfather.

"It is." the krogan chuckled heartily. "Our Warlord told us of that sturdy Mako Shepard once had, and which he several times had the utter displeasure of riding. Rumor has it, that the thing was not made to withstand harsh environments, heavy firepower or even drops from mountaintops. It was made to withstand _him_. And because it could withstand _Shepard_, it could breeze through all that other shit."

The mental image was enough to make both Naruto and nearby krogan to almost burst at the hilarity of it. Hinata did her best not to roll her eyes, and continued to smile politely, and felt their ride slow down. They had most likely reached the canyon.

The formation they're with are supposed to flank the reaper forces, but unfortunately this would take them through a rather treacherous canyon they needed to get through as fast as its narrow path allows. Traveling through it would not take long, but still enough to make one uneasy. The hope is that the reapers won't budge from the shroud till they force them to.

"Is there no way around?" one of the warriors further down wondered. "I feel like a sitting varren."

Their driver shrugged, "If we had a couple of bridges to cross, we would've."

"No enemy in sight. Push forward." Wreav broadcast through the intercom. "We will do our duty or die in the attempt!"

"Dying's too inconvenient." Naruto said, scrunching up his face at the severe tone. "Fight and live on I say."

Hinata giggled softly, and one of the krogan called out a sincere; "Hear, hear."

It was a largely uneventful ride for the longest time. The tension of it was almost unbearable. However, despite all expectations for something to crop up, when something finally and suddenly impacted against the armor behind her and across the vehicle's length, all inside nearly jumped to the ceiling. Her byakugan instantly active, she probed for whatever just hit them... and found it to be a smattering of synthetics, primarily brutes, that had just burst out of a crevice in the cliff wall. A brute force attack like one can expect from such units, but instead of scattering to sow chaos... these grappled with their Tomkah and lifted its side clean off the ground.

Orders were barked, and the turrets of the nearest two swiveled to face the alien synthetics.

They were nowhere fast enough, and the synthetics managed to flip their vehicle over the edge, and even attached a bomb to its belly just before the drop that blinked ominously. "N-Naruto.." Hinata warned in a rising voice as she reflexively let the three-tailed beast's chakra leak out and envelop her in response to the very real danger amidst the temporary bout of weightlessness as their Tomkah plummeted into the rapids far below, just a second before the explosive went off and tore the undercarriage apart in a small but cataclysmic ball of fire and shrapnel.

She only barely was able to see Naruto follow her example before the fact, and was forcefully taken away and washed downstream from the wreckage and those who had tragically died with it without resistance. The rapids too strong as, demon cloak or not, the explosion had thrown her about the breaking compartment and the rocks outside the vehicle before the rapids really took her.

Hinata slipped in and out of consciousness for what felt like minutes, powerless to stop from being swept further along till she finally regained the presence of mind to reactivate her byakugan – having momentarily lost the concentration to maintain it when the bomb blew – to look for Naruto, and found him drifting in nearly the same state some thirty feet behind her, on the verge of stage two. His body barely visible under the visage of his cloak.

Motivated by the sighting, she at last tried to fight back against the stream and struggled to adhere her hands to the water's surface in order to double back to him... but not before her immediate vicinity suddenly lost a whole lot of water, replaced instead by a thick mist of vapor.

_A waterfall... really?_

The realization struck her with sheer totality of resignation, and she hit solid ground after at least three dozen feet of free fall – apparently the only patch of flat ground in the canyon, the river's continuation no more than five feet to her left.

"Oh... shi-!" came Naruto's exclamation as he too fell and landed not far behind, the girl wincing as his face twisted into a huge grimace as the spot just had to include a protruding rock that struck him in the solar plexus, knocking all the wind out of him. Cloak or not, such an awkward landing had to hurt. "... Owww."

Soaking wet from the bath, water pooled steadily onto the ground from her clothes and hair as she pushed herself up on all four and made the effort to crawl on over, "Are you okay, Naruto?"

"Y-yeah." the boy she loved whimpered, and rolled himself off the stone – clutching his belly. "I'll sleep it off. But damn it," he cracked the ground open with a backhanded strike, "couldn't do anything to help those guys. This... just takes the piss."

Hinata said nothing, just watched him sadly.

"... Was it a trap?"

"I suppose it was." she hypothesized in a quiet tone, "Those husks targeted our vehicle alone, and I'm guessing they were destroyed right after. Maybe it was meant to separate us from the rest."

"Maybe we should of gone on foot..." he sighed lamentably.

"T-too late for that now." Hinata said as a shadow fell across the area, followed by a tremor that shook the cliff walls as the massive visage of a destroyer edged into view and settled down atop the canyon, three of four legs planted against the top of either walls, while the other hung almost lazily. Mottled black like the rest of its kind, it stood in violent contrast to all around it as it glared morosely down at them.

Expecting an attack from its glaring red-lit cannon to be imminent, both teens rushed to stand – their cloaks doubling in density and power in a burst of adrenaline.

Yet for all their immediate preparations to defend themselves, the machine did nothing. It did not move. Did not even emit one of the booming cries that the reapers are so fond of doing. Instead all it did was stare, till it raised its one hanging limb up in the air and thrust it to the ground that split it apart and sent a tremor across the area.

The Jinchuriki rebalanced themselves, befuddled by the seemingly random act.

It struck the ground a second time, then a third. Each stomp followed by a dramatic pause.

"Is it... challenging us?" Hinata wondered.

Naruto grinned, "Huh, why not? Prey so rarely declare itself..."

By the time of the fourth stomp, the whole canyon had begun to tremble as if in response. It was however not the reaper's product alone. It began as a low rumble that steadily grew as the fifth and sixth stomps followed until it had turned into a fully blown earthquake, and violently climaxed as the side of the cliff on the right subsequently exploded into a magnificent shower of rock and dirt.

From this spectacle, a shape pushed its head into the open, revolting in its utter hideousness. A creature of titanic proportions, worm-like in its shape except with numerous bony extensions with a sharp tip, and probing at its environment with an elongated tongue that glowed a fierce blue.

"Uh... what is this?" the boy asked, gawking blankly at the monstrosity.

"I," the Hyuga likewise stared, "honestly have no idea."

During this chaos, the Destroyer bid a hasty liftoff and withdrew, leaving the monster to probe around till it faced the kalinin below it, emitted a bone-splitting territorial shriek, and unhesitatingly charged with a speed incongruous to its great size and tonnage.

It couldn't be any more inconvenient... as the horizon started to echo with the distant thunder of heavy guns – the Battle for the Shroud had begun.

* * *

Temari decided she hated this situation...

Not because they were now in the middle of a massed pitched battle with the reapers, but because ever since that time when Shepard briefly held the wheel, she has been desperate to fight down a rampant case of nausea. She hated that, the Tomkahs, and Shepard's physics-defying driving skills.

It was nearly an hour where practically every second was spent actively making sure her breakfast stayed in her stomach, and made her generally unaware of what else went on around her. Only vaguely being able to even hear words about all companies being in position, except the Tomkah that the couple took off with had been derailed... meaning her friends would be delayed.

She was also barely able to hear as the haggard Warlord roared a call for all units to commence attack, and the inevitable hustle and bustle as their vehicle was pushed to the utmost and raced into the ancient city via as many roads as possible – which made perfect sense. The roar of guns and warriors both distant and near raised to a whole new volume as columns after columns of armored vehicles tore into what's left of the city's initial streets, fought off initial resistance and disgorged their exceedingly heavily armed passengers.

Shepard had clapped her on the shoulder as he popped the hatch and stepped outside with Javik at his heels, leaving her and the others.

It took no more than a minute of dizziness from the ride to feel like the big Shukaku in the room, exchanged a glance with the more or less mildly annoyed and bemused female krogan, who did not even bat an eye at the occasional bullet that bounced off the Tomkah's armor, before she finally got up and bailed with her fan in tow.

Once outside, Temari hobbled over to a nearby rock and sat down to fight down the sense of nausea-induced revulsion that still haunted her, bluntly ignoring all that went on around her as more Tomkahs came rolling in and spilled out additional bodies for the grinder. Time temporarily losing its meaning as the girl struggled to center herself – ignoring all the sounds of battle in doing so as it moved further into the city, through the interior of the pyramidal structures, to the streets outside, to the long bridges that spanned between each rocky island.

In its own way, this battle made the one at Menae relatively sedate in comparison, despite the difference in scale.

"Next time... pills." Temari groaned softly at length, "Uh. No... not pills. No vehicle. I'll wreck the next ground vehicle I'm asked to board, you see if I don't... Urgh... shouldn't even have this downtime at all. Damn. You. Shepard... you and your abomination of a double Immelmann turn."

What a mess.

"Here."

Temari looked up to see Mordin crouch down by her with a pill in hand, held up to her. She eyed it apprehensively and asked groggily a terse; "Huh?"

"For your health. Best not fight in such a state. Swallow. Do not chew."

A moment passed, and she finally accepted and veritably tossed the pill down her gullet with a resounding gulp to accompany it, "W-where were you this last hour?"

"In my seat." he smart-arsed flippantly, though he slightly smiled at her resulting brief loathing expression. "If doctor nearby. Asking if sick better than doing nothing."

"I'll take that," Temari muttered, feeling her head clear up a little bit. "under advisement. Thanks."

"Glad to help." he shrugged and stood as Wrex stepped out of the Tomkah, the entire formation about to move slowly into the city as reportedly the first couple of blocks had been taken and secured already. "Need to head back."

She nodded, and slowly rose as he went back and boarded the vehicle to rejoin Eve. That warlord on the other hand decided to foot it alongside the most recently arrived pair of battalions.

"Guess," the girl started as she rose up to join the throng, feeling rather better now. "I'll go ahead too, and find me a few heads to break."

* * *

"Not the most ideal scenario, but it should work."

Kai Leng watched the spectacle, analyzing it for pattern in the chaos. This Warlord Wrex did seem to have the brains about him to avoid having his army travel in a single mass and instead attack the city from as many directions as possible.

He had already discerned a weakness though, and opened a channel to his forces that now only waited for his command to strike. "This is it. Win here and there will most likely be no krogan intervention."

Such an affirmation was lost on the majority of Cerberus' army, being mostly brainwashed colonists, but Kai Leng decided he did not care about so little a detail. They would protect Cerberus' interests all the same. There were no other choice on the table.

"As said before, your objective is to destroy as many of their heavy vehicles as possible. The more of those they have, the better a chance to dislodge the reapers. That... must be prevented." he gazed across the outskirts, "While some elements of this strength of theirs have moved in to support the advance of their troops, most of the Tomkahs have been massed on the outskirts to avoid losses."

A distant boom of noises announced the brazen approach of the lone reaper he saw earlier as it returned and homed toward the massed krogan with deadly intent, and not a small amount of apparent confidence. It set down close to the central formation with its cannon blazing at the troops below.

Perfect.

Kai Leng rapidly drew a number of target areas, strung them together and relayed the data to his troops. "Attack is a go!" he ordered sharply. "Destroy all targets!"

Exits on a number of the ancient structures burst open as the forces deep within brought themselves to the surface with an otherwise silent menace, hordes of Orcus mechs pouring out first to cover for more specialized anti-tank units.

Very soon, an already chaotic situation turned to bedlam.

* * *

Wrex winced as the Destroyer that just ambled onto the scene made another of those deafening roars while he blasted yet another of the all too plentiful Cannibals, with a grenade tossed to it for good measure as more like it swarmed in to feast on the fallen creature – tearing them all to pieces. The huge reaper had come only moments before, smashing buildings under its weight as it landed and waded through the fire hurled at it while handing out its own.

In a moment of agility, he rolled back over the cover that used to be an ancient statue behind him to rejoin Shepard, who was busy with a finger to his ear – trying to shout over the incessant noise of gunfire and slaughter all around them as reaper and krogan armies crashed against one another in a battle that was just one step short of an all-out brawl. That four-eyed freak Shepard brought along was positioned more to the side, laying down a constant stream of fire with his strange rifle, killing each husk that entered his sight with practiced rapidity.

No sooner had the blasted reaper come before he ordered Eve's column to fall back as a security precaution. So that was at least one worry out of the way. _But..._

"Are we ever going to see the air support that damned primarch offered this century?"

Shepard raised an eyebrow at him and nodded reassuringly, "Just gotten word, the cruisers are finally here and are launching fighters."

"Finally." Wrex grumbled under his breath, treating the gigantic Destroyer that just stomped gingerly into view – filling the entirety of the street and beyond with its bulk, its beam bisecting a stray Tomkah in a single sweep of its beam – with no more severity than he would offer to a brat. "How long?"

"A few minutes at least." the nonchalance was infective as Shepard also shrugged off the machine's presence. "We'll have four wings. Hopefully that will be enough."

"It's gonna be close." he tapped his earpiece, "Fifth, get this thing off of us."

For a response, fire and shrapnel burst across the reaper's side seconds later as a number of vehicle-mounted guns hammered it from far away. It made the thing turn its ruby-flaring cannon away from the street in search for the gnats that tried to be more than just a minor source of annoyance.

"If only those kids weren't swept away by that river..."

"Maybe it wouldn't be here if they weren't." Shepard answered him, wincing as the destroyer fired its weapon – the volleys thrown at it lessening. "If it's as strong as claimed, they probably need time to get back."

"Damned opportunist." Wrex scowled at its nearest leg, having smashed a long since dried up well underfoot. "Great. Anyway, we best divert and join with the western flank while we ca-"

"Incoming!" Shepard cried out and pushed him down, as theirs and several other makeshift positions were heavily shelled, and their forces' general advances slowed to a halt by the arrival of several swooping shapes of harvesters that crashed onto the street and unloaded a greater number of husks, along with one of their bizarre tanks that hurled hurled biotically charged shells downrange.

Wrex growled under his breath, finger motioning to his earpiece to signal a tactical retreat and reposition when the air shifted as the only prelude to a huge tornado that suddenly blasted horizontally past their position, bringing with it scores of dead husks, debris and pebbles. Likewise, it barreled through the formation up ahead, the cutting winds lashed and tore husks apart, ripped wings off harvesters, and even threw the tank up and into the air like a toy.

The tornado continued its destructive course until it slammed with all of its strength, with all its contents for additional force, into the reaper's aforementioned leg and knocked it off the well for sufficient a distance that the whole machine stumbled – making its latest shot at the fifth miss by an estimated wide margin, accidentally slicing a harvester late to the party from the air along with its deadly cargo.

"It would seem," Shepard wryly said as in the middle of the street, a blond girl walked like she owned it – brazenly eying the reaper as it straightened, ignoring the additional volleys of heavy shells that struck and was promptly washed off its barrier. The huge fan she used for a weapon folded and held against her back by the elbows, "that our reinforcements has arrived."

Chuckling, he pressed his earpiece. "All units, if we don't take this thing down – it's all over. Keep up the pressure, and keep those husks off the girl here!"

A chorus of affirmatives answered his call, and the attacks stepped up across the line as if the destroyer wasn't even there. Static crackled into his ear, along with the voice of the colonel he chose for the eastern force – who sounded gravely alarmed. Wrex suspected the worst.

"Warlord, we are under heavy Cerberus attack! They are taking out our vehicles!"

"Then I expect you to keep them from destroying any more!" he growled harshly, "Call in the ninth to support you, now!"

"Aye." the colonel hissed in frustrations as the explosion in the background came closer, "Doing!"

"Shepard, air support. Now would be good."

"They're coming as fast as they can, Wrex." Shepard was reading his omni-tool with focused concentration, "I can't make them fly any faster." his eyes then narrowing when he caught something. "... What the?"

Wrex was nonchalant in his resignation, ignoring the bullets that flew by or clashed with his barrier as he observed the ongoing battle, his forces doing an admirable job making sure those husks don't even get close to Temari. "What now?"

"We got an unscheduled shuttle incoming. Up high."

He directed his squinted gaze to the sky, and spotted a dot just barely. Puzzlement crossing his mind. "A shuttle? Who the hell is coming?"

* * *

A few years ago, she would have balked at the mere thought of facing an opponent of this size. Especially as the only thing that approximated the size of the destroyer that loomed over her now back then amounted to the terrifying visage of the Shukaku, the same thing sealed into her armor now.

It was... rather strange a notion, come to think of it.

"I guess this is what some would call a baptism of fire." Temari commented, walking unharmed through the chaos as the krogan did an admirable job to keep the things on the ground away from her. "I'd call it something else, but you're probably not interested in anything I say." she continued and unfolded her giant fan to its fullest extent – all three moons exposed.

In a heavy situation, she'd normally try to summon a sickle weasel to do the damage needed. But with all summoned animals back on their home world supposedly extinct, she had no choice but to rely on her own strength... and that of the Shukaku.

The reaper's silence was most telling as it fully turned to face her, the angry glare given by the ruby-red lens making her eyes water as it grew brighter.

She was not at all confident about the making of a demon cloak yet, even less a partial transformation. So before she even decided on the only course of action available, had already sent herself into a full run with head kept low. Not away from the reaper, and not directly toward it... instead she ran for the not-so distant slanted wall to the right, with sweat covering her back in moments as the air behind her turned a bloody red, and just as hot as it looked in the periphery of her vision. Even worse, the beam that just extended from the reaper followed her.

With just a moment to spare, Temari reached the wall and transferred chakra to the soles of her boots as she launched herself at the wall, adhered to it and went on a quick run up along it – straight up the vaguely pyramidal structure.

Heat left her back as the beam faded, but the reaper was not nearly done as it pivoted to track her, one of its legs punching through the structure's wall. Not enough to make her lose foothold, but that did not seem to be the whole intent as the thing, intent on killing her, pursued while charging up another shot.

This time she had to jump, as the torturous heat returned. Temari launched herself to the side, perspiring like crazy as the beam passed right where she used to be, gouging the rocky walls right where it landed.

It was hard to evade like this while charging up something that might handle this hurdle. She kept her giant fan on a slanted angle, veins of the Shukaku's wind-based chakra pulsating and spreading across its surface, pooling into an orb that expanded in both size and density. Helped a little by the dry but strong desert wind as she continued the ascent.

It was not a bijudama, but this had to do.

Another beam came, but one from a different direction entirely. She just barely ducked below it, the only lead a sudden glow that came from the side. A glance was thrown to where it came from and saw a strange craft come barreling in her direction, with an eye like that reaper still staring up at her did.

Temari swore, and launched herself off the wall, spinning through the air just as it was about to pass her, and rammed the ball of wind that hovered off her giant fan through the machine, pulverizing fully half of it and made the rest come crashing down at the building's wall.

_Gotcha_. That word was written all over the reaper below as it powered up another shot and let it loose.

"You think you've won?!" she yelled and brought the fan below her – relatively speaking – facing the wind that she proceeded to use to blast her out of the beam's path. And as the pillar shot past just inches away, just near enough that she felt the scalding heat on her skin, even through the armor of hers.

Out of harm's way, she span once again, swept the giant fan along a wide arc, and launched her technique with every ounce of her strength, "Wind style: Drilling air bullet!" Temari's ears rang momentarily as the technique blasted through the sound barrier straight off the bat – traveling parallel to the beam itself.

Unexpectedly quick, the reaper stomped and tried to veer away. But it seemed the thing knew it could not avoid this, and shut a section of its hull to protect the cannon in a moment that could only be articulated as the monster gritting its teeth as the air bullet impacted it, shattered the frontal armor protecting the gun, and cracked open a wide stretch across the rest of its hull. The blast as such that it catapulted the reaper, even as massive as it was, into the street to leave a crater, the shock wave caused by the technique and its rough landing sweeping krogan and husk alike off their feet.

It looked spectacular, but was not enough as when the damaged armor peeled away... the reaper's weapon without damage. Still in fighting condition.

"Tch... can't pierce it with only that much power, huh?" Temari wondered in dismay as she used the fan to propel herself back to the wall. "If only I had enough time to... Oh..."

The destroyer just did not care for delay as it once again revved up its cannon for another shot, even though it is still trying to push its frame off the demolished street. "**You will,**" it actually spoke to her for the first time in a dreadful baritone. "**di-?!**"

"Whoa!" she yelped as the building underneath her just began to tremble. Not just it, she soon found out, but this whole city-section rocked under the force of a tremor. The girl balanced herself, and watched with a degree of complete consternation as the reaper seemed to slip and once again stumbled to the ground. "Hey... what's going on?"

Earthquake, and an awfully convenient one. Too convenient to have been a coincidence. Temari stared around for the source of it, till she sensed chakra in the air that wasn't hers, and her eyes followed the mind to the origin of it... that turned out to be a shuttle that hung in the air far away, its side hatch wide open with one individual who just about now stepped out of it as though the ground wasn't at least several hundred feet below him.

But the person did not fall, instead he found purchase in a piece of ground that manifested in the air as all the sand taken by the wind were called to form a film of foothold. A film of _sand_.

Delight momentarily flooded her senses, "... Is that you... Ga-" only to be struck into silence. Not by a physical blow, but sensation. The chakra that was his felt strangely curious before... but now it abruptly turned cold, so very cold, laced with hatred.

It awoke something in her, a primal animal fear that she thought would never revisit her again. Temari shivered and stumbled back, drenched with sweat that came for no other reason than her intense fear.

The longer she stared at the person, the more she was able to discern his face, even from this far away... devoid of any stoicism, had twisted into an angry and hateful scowl. A mood that permeated the air itself and made the very ground reverberate furiously.

"No..." she could only mutter, "Please no..."

Downstairs, the reaper had turned its attention away from her. It had also noticed the newly arrived and regarded him with steep menace, its dark robotic noise resounding across the city as the metallic monster advanced, smashing anything underfoot that could not get away in time: "**We... are the instruments of your destruction.**"

"And I am _yours_!" the boy replied with a throaty roar, and raised his arms... to which the entire desert suddenly exploded into the air. The very terrain itself obeying the boy's will as he turned it against the blight before him. "I will _break_ you, with _all_ of my _hatred-_!"

With no more than an aggressive gesture, the entire desert gathered itself and rolled toward the city like a gigantic moving wall that threatened to crush those before it. So absolutely massive that it even dwarfed the reaper itself that merely glowered at it like it's nothing.

"Sand tsunami!" the boy bellowed harshly, and sent the wave crashing into the city – the first pair of buildings already smashed and swallowed up by it as it continued its relentless advance.

It struck Temari then, the very real threat this enormous jutsu posed, not just to the reaper... but everyone else on the ground. "Everyone!" she screeched in panic at those below, those at the shuttle behind the boy had also realized the same and tried to make him restrain himself. "Run! Take cover!"

Sabaku no Gaara... has returned, and not just the reapers would know his wrath.

* * *

_Author notes:_ Really bothersome it was, but it took several rewrites to get this chapter done.


	64. Chapter 64

**Chapter 64**

* * *

"You idiot, you utter fool!"

If one thing defined her thoughts about Gaara for the vast majority of their lives, it was fear. Utter fear. Such trepidation over his murderous moods that sometimes her mind felt as though it would fall apart. He eventually changed for the better with plenty helping of percussive correction courtesy of Naruto, but those past years could not be erased that easily. So when Gaara appeared to them all just a moment ago, with every indication of being his old murderous self, she felt naught but animal fear.

Nevertheless, she surprised herself when she in a fit of cold fury snapped at the distant boy in sheer light of the utter outrage now ongoing as Gaara sent into the city a gigantic tidal wave of sand heedless of the allied forces fighting below.

The roiling waves slammed into the place, bowled over nearly all the Tomkahs across this theater, and consumed many krogan as it rushed violently through the streets and razed any structure that could not withstand the onrushing wall that literally ran hundreds of feet in its height.

Caught in its path, any who could rush for cover did so. Any door that led into the sturdiest buildings or underground labyrinths were immediately used, entire squadrons launched themselves into crevices to use the very bones of the earth to protect themselves.

Temari on her part could do nothing but dash further up the wall she was already on with all speed to evade the roiling masses, and fought to keep herself balanced as the terrifying wave rushed past her position and crashed into the Destroyer in a sea of pure malevolence, the sand quick to start coiling around it like the tentacles of a living thing while washing away any and all synthetics both in the air and on the ground. Harvesters were slapped out of the air by freak tentacles of sand that extended from the mass.

As for the Destroyer, it squirmed and struggled to lift off. It boomed in frustration and repeatedly blasted the coiling sands with its cannon, turning great stretches into glass in the process.

The mass congregated around the machine, continued to envelop it despite attempts to resist and finally encased it in a gigantic cocoon. But it was not done yet, and Temari still ran, now alongside the wall to duck into a rift and save herself from what came next as the airborne Gaara roared his infamous follow-up jutsu:

"Giant sand burial!"

Immediately the sand pushed and crunched inwardly at his target. The metallic monster barely able to let rip a groan before the pressure increased several thousand times and crumpled the entirety of it into a third of its original size in a show of ear-splitting metallic screeches.

Temari held her ears and writhed in utter agony at the racket that only grew worse as the reaper promptly exploded with such force that even the sand could not contain it and scattered with the extending hurricane of flames and shrapnel.

Far from a position to celebrate the outcome, the woman fell and writhed on the floor found past the fissure.

"Stupid... stupid..." Temari groaned as her ears slowly stopped ringing and allowed her to crawl over to the very edge and see a landscape wholly changed from what it was just a minute ago... utterly silent except for distant gunfire on the other fronts. Her glare landed on Gaara who still hovered far above the battleground, contemptuously gazing at the devastation below him. "Stupid..."

From this position, struggling to recover, she could only stare outward, curse her own powerlessness, and hope some of those below managed to save themselves. Especially in the case of those she knew, along with the very reason they came here.

Without Eve this operation and sacrifices involved would have been for nothing.

"Damn it all."

* * *

"Speak to me." Wreav demanded, he damned well felt that earthquake through his Tomkah. "What the hell happened?!"

On their end, the situation was a favorable one. Under his leadership they had blasted through the initial reaper forces that opposed them, and now fought a running battle throughout this area – deploying the full might of his infantry and armored vehicles instead of preserving strength. He wanted everything on the line and advanced like a giant sledgehammer.

Even flabbergasted, he kept his eyes solidly on the view shown on their screen as his column passed down another street and set up a line for volley fire as a number of insect-like tanks tried to dig their heels in to repulse his assault.

His communicator Rev shook his head, "No word on comm, blackout on central front. Something big just went down..."

_Well that's just great._

Above him, the gunner set his sights on a reaper tank and pulled the trigger. The satisfying thud and shudder that followed as their main gun fired a heavy round was much like a cry of victory, and the ominous machine at the far end fell apart in a brilliant spark of light, and crushed any synthetic too close to survive its decisive destruction.

To what happened elsewhere, he had to make an immediate decision. "Rev, tell all forces on our end to secure the area – blow the crap out of any husks stupid enough to try and hold this piece of rock."

"We hold our position then?"

"Until we get word that the female's still alive." he snarled.

"Aye, sending... huh?"

Wreav closed his eyes to force down a slight wave of indignation as the place started to shake, "What?"

"Tremor, something big is coming along the nearby trench... it's..." Rev paused as he listened, "It's Kalros!"

"Yeah... that was all we needed." he said deadpan, completely nonplussed about the news. He could feel the whole area tremble before the imminent arrival of the great mother of thresher maws. "It's coming our way isn't it?"

"Arrival imminent!"

"Brace. Brace."

There was no krogan anywhere nearby that did not dive for the ground as the trench adjacent to their formation erupted into a colossal geyser of rock and radioactive sand as a veritable wall of sickly brown hide emerged into view, kilometers worth of worm that could kick the collective asses off entire armies by its lonesome. Implacable in its sheer enormity as it like a great tower speared into the sky, huge scythes spreading wide into either direction.

Rev stared at it in horror, "How can you be so calm?"

But that was nothing compared to the surprise when a whole nearby building at the trench's edge along with most of the cliff it stood on were suddenly displaced by a giant monster that held itself against Kalros' side with all its might.

"My armor is contempt. Take cover." Wreav ordered as he maintained strict control of himself in the face of this unexpected demolition, "Now."

* * *

When she first encountered tailed beasts and summons in general, Hinata never thought she'd see any living thing as big as them. That no beast out there could possibly match such size and power.

That was before they encountered Kalros.

It was obscenely gigantic, so absurdly gargantuan that it not only outsized the tailed beasts but utterly dwarfed them. Covered by thick hide like fortress walls and able to spit tidal waves of corrosive acid, it was by itself a monster of incredible martial might that had no compunction to use any of its advantages in a fight within its territory. Being Jinchuriki, only Naruto and herself had the power to fight the veritable organic titan, and when it suddenly decided to make its way back into the city after a hard struggle, he and she decided instantly to advance to stage three of their biju transformations and grabbed hold – essentially piggybacking the mother of worms.

It took all her might to hold on as they were driven through millions of tons of rock, sand and dirt, a position of intense discomfort that culminated in a head-on collision with the ruins' bedrock and sent dozens or hundreds of tons' worth of debris flying into the air.

With her byakugan she watched in dismay as all this rained on a mass of krogan and reaper troop formations below, wrought miraculously few casualties but otherwise caused heavy destruction across this particular city section as huge boulders of bedrock and buildings smashed through anything they touched.

And then came what vindicated their piggybacking as Kalros in a deliberate or coincidental act arched towards the city section, a move that threatened to flatten much of it along with everyone caught underneath.

Something Naruto had noticed too as he powered up a massive bijudama, and aimed it in the general direction Kalros turned to – but at an angle that would overshoot the city.

Hinata with a thought through the logic chain understood what he is trying to do and echoed the motion, and aimed her rapidly expanding ball of chakra in the same direction. Watching intently as the great fox Naruto's third stage was dexterously did what her Sanbi could not; count down with the nine-tails' very kalinin-like paw.

At the indication of zero, both of them let it rip and blasted a tight but wide beam of raw power that instantly turned a mountain that just happened to be there inside out when said beams converged. Some would question this action, but its result could not be argued with as with this deployment they acted like massive thrusters that countered Kalros' inertia and propelled it in the opposite direction – destroying a large swathe of cityscape at the opposite side of the trench they had emerged from, one thankfully devoid of people. Entire pyramids were pulverized under the thresher maw's mountainous mass, and even more were ground to dust as it rolled itself off and set to submerge itself again in a grunt of annoyance for their interference.

With less than twenty seconds till submergence, Hinata analyzed all she could as the krogan troops regrouped and continued the fight, mowing down the disrupted reaper vanguard as they moved to secure the area. This disturbance aside, the krogan advance were now halting instead of advancing.

Question was high in mind as to what had happened, till she focused her all-seeing eyes to where the central front's is... or as she now swiftly found out... used to be. What she saw was a massive dune of sand that now dominated that city section, a submerged and smashed wreckage that used to be a Destroyer, hundreds of buried krogan and Tomkahs. An outraged Temari, a confused mass of troops forced underground and... a very much live Gaara with a hateful gaze above it all – from the overall look of it responsible for what had just happened there – alongside a shuttle, its crew shocked like Temari was over the indiscriminate assault.

Hinata swallowed nervously as she was about to sink underground, dragged along by Kalros, and swore to not tell Naruto about what possibly happened, for the sake of not triggering another cataclysm.

At least... not yet.

* * *

"Oh... shit." Vega still bore the shock as he stared as they all did from the shuttle's wide open side-hatch at what just transpired; "Did you not tell that guy what to hit and not to hit... or something?"

"We did." a seething Tenten snapped, her expression one of absolute fury. Hands curling into fists so hard that anything caught in that grasp would have been crumpled into unrecognizable shapes. "Kami knows, we did!"

Kakashi sighed in lamentation, "We should have brought him to an empty area instead. Let him loose with his frustration where he couldn't hurt anyone." he paused to let down his hand that had rubbed his temples in resignation, "Do you have any word from Shepard?"

"None." Garrus cursed, fingers dancing across his omni-tool, "Damn this isn't looking good at all."

"Keep trying, I refuse to think that ended him..."

"Better cross your fingers then as the humans say."

"We have something similar, already on it."

"Hey look." the bulky mass of soldier that is Vega leaned out slightly to squint at the distant ground as from the ocean of sand several shapes started to surface. Some of them were krogan, and some... husks. "Rarring for a round two are they?"

Temari had noticed this activity too and had leaped out of her hiding place to rush down and help the aliens, as bewildered as they currently are. And unfortunately, a clearly unrepentant Gaara spotted this too and snarled as he began to descend.

The soldier's voice deflated like he had just jinxed something, "... And he is too."

"Tenten." Kakashi started to order in steep regret.

She tore her gaze from the scene to look up at him.

"Stop him!"

"Don't let that guy do any more damage!" Garrus turned away, "I'll divert fighters to the other fronts. Spirits knows they need them more than we do..."

Just a few years ago, Kakashi's order would have sounded thoroughly insane. But now it was different, he did not have his tailed beast anymore and wore no more than the OCA they donned him with. Gaara was still monstrous in strength despite the lack, but he was not as strong as he used to be.

Relenting to the necessity of her task without a second thought, Tenten launched herself from the shuttle and let gravity toy with her for a moment before she let the demon beetle's chakra shoot out and cover her figure, complete with the wings needed to stay in the air. Armored by this and flight-capable, Tenten propelled herself into a sharp dive like a bullet, so fast she that nothing could hold her back – only the air pressure tried to buffet and slow her down, only to quickly drain as she neared the ground in pursuit of the boy.

Gaara had come to hover just a few feet off the ground, and raised his arms in a grasping motion that made the dunes below stir and convulse in violent intent, eyes on the patches of synthetic resistance already embroiled in a tornado. The sand rose, and an attack was about to be launched.

But it would not be, not as Tenten suddenly tackled him from behind at high speed, blasting them clean through the cloud he had used to keep himself aloft, and driving him face-first into the ground – making the dunes fall limply as his attention fell to the wayside in a rather spectacularly fashion.

Right on top of him, she straddled him and summoned to her hand a Mattock she immediately thrust against his head – taking no chances short of actually pulling the trigger. "Hold it!" Tenten hissed furiously. "Don't you move a finger..."

Despite his position, Gaara managed to snake a look at her through narrowed eyes, "You d-dare to protect them?"

"I am protecting our allies, you idiot! We told you of our allies at this location, summarized what is going on... yet you went this far. What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"Those?" he dismissed callously, "They were in the way."

She stared down at him in utter loathing that even surprised her.

A violent torrent of wind blasting through the area signaled the final dissolution of husk resistance in this immediate area, and was soon replaced by harsh vitriol as Temari soon saw and redirected herself towards them like the sight of her brother's pinned form lent courage to her being, shouting obscenities both colorful and anatomically impossible at the kazekage. It did what neither the harsh landing nor gun to the head managed to do; make him wince.

* * *

_Oh, how this turned out..._

Colonel Urdnot Darrog coughed up blood where he awkwardly lay on what used to be the ceiling of his personal Tomkah, struggling and failing to stand up as the vehicle burned and sparked around him. For all the preparations made for a potential Cerberus intervention, he could do remarkably little but watch as a missile came his way, and only by a freak of luck made this hunk of junk flip over instead of being blown apart.

The point was moot though. Crew dead and himself dying, his vehicle might just as well be all gone. He took a moment to look to his driver and communicator – gunner most likely pulp within his crushed post – and deemed them the lucky ones. Lucky not to hear his forces fall apart outside.

By Aralakh they still fought like a beast possessed despite the apparent loss of command staff. For the moment what remained of the IFV company and infantry acted on their latest set of orders, but would probably dissolve into an unorganized rabble the moment it becomes apparent there are no new orders to follow them up.

And the moment that happen along with considerable lack of vehicular support the reapers would break through and kill everyone.

"Respond." a voice crackled in over his badly mangled communications' equipment, "This is the Ninth. We are en route to your location. Respond damn it!"

With barely any strength left, every fiber of his being protesting fiercely, he raised an arm toward the barely functioning holographic interface and felt slight resistance, "This is... Urdnot... Darrog." he coughed past a pint of his own blood, "Ninth... how much longer?"

The answer was prompt, "Minutes out. How are you holding up?"

"What... ugh... do you think? My troops are... barely holding... maybe falling apart as we speak." he listened to the veritable chorus of thuds so characteristic of shotguns and felt slight regret he would no longer hold even his own. "Don't know anymore... Cerberus took out my vehicle... I'll be dead by the time... you get here... battlemaster. Take over for me, will you?"

"... Understood. I'll bring Aralakh's wrath upon them!"

"I'll leave it to you then..."

No more strength left, Darrog let his arm fall and spent a few more instants listening to the struggle still ongoing even as his senses numbed into an inconsistent blur. There was nothing left but accept what little consolation existed and closed his eyes. With a sigh, he let it all go and made his departure.

* * *

"I guess this calls for a change of plans." Usorc asserted as his company finally piled into plain view of the city and was able to see for themselves how bad the situation had turned out, a horizon of cityscape turned into an ocean of flames and smoke. Frantic transmissions coming in on all frequencies.

"Hah, you don't say..." Tosc communicated.

"So are we going to stabilize this front first?" Asul followed up.

Usorc glared at the screen, "While still mindful of why we're here." as they neared the front line with every second, a rumble shooting through his vehicle as they moved from the rocky terrain and onto the ruins' tiled roads. Already they passed the first set of burning wrecks, with the human renegades absent. Either further in, or they moved somewhere else entirely.

There were a few soldiers about who watched as the hundred vehicle-strong force under Usorc's command drove through – spread across three streets for safety's sake. It was intolerable to see soldiers mill about uselessly back here.

"Ralgh, open communications with all forces at this location. I got a few choice words to make."

His communicator complied, did the part, and nodded for his leader once done. Ralgh was more or less a man of few words, but functional.

"All troops of sections sixth through eight hear me!" Usorc hollered on all the relevant channels, "With the authority of late Urdnot Darrog, I, battlemaster Gaalsarc Usorc now take full command. Forward status report on channel 1.004.1 and await further orders!"

Apparently excited to have leadership again, it did not take long for reports to trickle in like a wave. And the ancient battlemaster watched as data piled into the map interface – giving a vague but comprehensive image of the current battlefield positions.

To say it is a mess would be an understatement. Reaper forces shown with red blobs of movement were so many and so tightly packed they formed a massive northward pyramid, with small packs that intermingled with the rather scattered blue blobs that signified krogan forces – which were along a wavy line not too far ahead, over eighty percent of their vehicular support lost, courtesy of the vague white dots along the flanks away from the reaper horde... estimated Cerberus positions.

"Honestly, it's like trying to keep track of the kids back in the old days." Usorc lamented softly to a perplexed audience consisting of youngsters that were too young to get it. "Jokes aside, our tactical position could not be worse. Without heavy support or fortifications, getting overrun is just a question of when."

"Your job now to get us out of this." Ralgh chortled darkly, "So what will it be?"

With a little thought, Usorc pointed at a plaza which elevation was slightly lower than the rest, large enough to fit a small army. "All forces will fall back and converge at this location. Get all the Tomkahs and troops we can into it, use the low elevation for protection. If we run out of room, leftover troops will fill into adjacent structures."

"Not exactly-"

"Warrior-like?" he interjected with a frown, "Without enough heavy guns, all we can do is fortify ourselves. And tell Asul and Tosc holiday's over and it's time to go and hit Cerberus damned hard, keep 'em on their toes and the hell off of us!"

"Right." Ralgh slowly sighed, but rapidly did his part handing out orders – at which the colored landscape across the map began to visibly change. Encouraged to have a leader again to direct them, the beleaguered troops heeded orders with great enthusiasm while the krantts here not his veered off in each their direction.

It was regrettable, but necessity demanded he keep his claws off the renegade humans' collective necks for now.

"Now get us to the plaza. Fast. We got a battle to win, one over the head in shit as it is."

* * *

Kai Leng watched as the eastern front stopped fragmenting and fell back in a coherent fashion with a curse of momentary frustration on his lips. When their leader was killed, presumably when his troops shelled their vehicular support – which showed when the krogan army began to shake apart into individual squads lacking in cohesion. He expected they would not again manage to get another leader in place before the reapers slaughtered the lot of them.

But to his surprise, when that comparatively puny backup force came the existing forces made a swift recovery and became a coherent fighting force again... which meant the leader was in one of those newly arrived vehicles. Roughly a hundred targets.

Determined to make sure the army becomes a rabble again he rose a hand at the interface he had unpacked in front of him, "Second and fourth platoon. You have new targets in Sector Six." he indicated the whole convoy, "Destroy all targets. Third and tenth provide support."

A burst of affirmatives responded and a portion of figures split off from the main force as they tried to harass the withdrawing krogan without being caught by the husk horde. The aforementioned companies split into two separate groups and hurried to converge on the krogan convoy.

It looked like a sure kill, all those vehicles confined to no more than three somewhat narrow streets. Fish in a barrel.

That is, until said convoy suddenly split up into three smaller groups – one that staid on course while the others spread out, coincidentally on a path that would intersect with the companies he had just dispatched.

_Did he know, or was it just dumb luck?_ Kai Leng wondered silently, deep in thought.

According to his own schedule, he should have had his troops move away by now for the central front and then to the western. But changes to battlefield conditions had forced a change. Central's demolition by one of Shepard's own comrades was certainly joyous news, but the knowledge that the female that very nearly killed him earlier is currently there blocked out every thought of moving on. That brunette's the one female in the galaxy he did not want to tangle with again anytime soon, not even by proxy.

So here his soldiers stayed, to dismantle the eastern front until the reapers stomp it out completely.

Static belched from the tenth as one of the backup convoy's flanks hit them with great rapidity, almost a dozen Orcus mechs dismantled already by a three-cannon salvo. A similar situation went on as the other collided with the Third. A Tomkah went down, at the cost of several troopers and a legionnaire.

Let them fight it out for the moment. The new leader required his immediate attention.

"Now where are you gonna go next?" Kai Leng asked as he tried to find out where the undisturbed column would intersect with the retreating army. A line was drawn from it and the apparent destination. A wide plaza in which the opposing regiment was also heading toward.

With an abrupt epiphany of understanding, he designated several new places. "All forces break off pursuit and reposition to these new coordinates. Find good vantage points but do not, I repeat, do not hit them until I give the order!"

He watched as the convoy arrived and piled itself into the lower elevation, positioned so that every heavy gun had a clear line of sight, which the arriving regiment made sure to mimic. To counter the unstoppable synthetic horde with an immovable wall of raw firepower.

Gradually every piece assembled, except the krogan flanking forces further south that persistently kept all four platoons he sent there firmly tied down. None of them could safely disengage without heavy losses. So except them, the battlefield gradually stilled. A calm before another storm as every side stared down the barrels at each other.

In the midst of this, Kai Leng finally discerned what must be the leading vehicle. One Tomkah sitting right in the middle of the plaza. He raised a hand to indicate it so it will be the focus of more or less four separate warheads once the husks close the gap enough for battle to resume.

But mid-movement, he stopped in surprise as several blips of movements rocketed in from the map's south-eastern edge. "What the..." he questioned, but quickly it hit him, "... shit!"

* * *

Just as soon as the last squadron came into place from the north, hundreds of husks of all variants spilled into view. Human-made husks came forth like a tide of metal, intermingled with somewhat more organized battalions of marauders, cannibals, and brutes. With ravagers here and there bringing in the heavy firepower alongside their bigger tank cousins. Like a shadow, the synthetic taint spread across the area without the slightest care of the huge wall of barrels facing them now.

Usorc smirked at the display, a terrifying visage to be sure but one he had prepared for as much as time allowed. All Tomkahs were in position, their heavy guns trained on the enemy – half of their visage hidden by the lower elevations of this place. In front and around them stood and knelt a heavily manned triple line of warriors – with grenades in hand.

"All in position!" Ralgh announced. "We are ready!"

"Ready a broadcast." he demanded, to which the communicator complied. Usorc called out: "Warriors, this is it! There is no further retreat. We hold this place of our glorious ancestors or we die, there will be no surrender! No mercy!" … "Fire on my command only. Let's do the ancients proud!"

Only silent expectations answered him as the horde drew nearer.

"Not yet!" Usorc grunted, watching the interface as the opposing faction drew nearer the red line he'd drawn. "Not yet!" he repeated.

A chorus of shrill shrieks echoed through the city as what all used to be organic beings continued their thunderous approach, heedless of the danger. Utterly expendable assets the reapers had no reason to preserve. They would be abandoned at the end of their harvest anyway.

A harvest the ancient krogan wanted to stop as much as all else not counting Cerberus. So when the red line was finally crossed, Usorc gaped and howled into the comm, "Cannons, give them hell!"

To his word, a one hundred and thirty gun salute boomed and wreathed almost the entirety of the husks' front line were wreathed in an obliterating fire for as long as it took for those caught in it to disintegrate.

"Reload, and again!"

With relish, another massive boom rang, singing for the enemy's destruction as another line were consumed and destroyed as surely as the one before was. But this time many units broke through, colossal Brutes rushed through the flames, steadily toward the infantry line.

Usorc grinned, "Grenades!"

In response, the first line of troops primed grenades and threw the munitions in a straight line for the mass of Brutes. The monstrosities could only see the comparatively puny discs before it occurred that a large number of them would even be detrimental to them... as each grenade simultaneously detonated and took apart the hulking turian/krogan hybrids till they were just unrecognizable lumps of metal and polymer.

"Cannons!"

It went like that. All Tomkah would let loose at once and collapse an enemy line, while the lines of warriors would switch places for each barrage of grenades let loose to kill any husks that got past the heavier guns. But still, the number of synthetics seemed limitless as despite the volleys that rapidly claimed countless kills each successive wave came closer than the one before, and as they neared further casualties mounted among the defenders.

Tomkahs took hits and collapsed as they were ruptured in multiple locations by opposing ravagers, and warriors fell with mounting bullet wounds. Eventually the gap closed enough that salvos were aborted and Usorc hollered his next fiery instruction: "All guns, fire at will!" to which all infantry threw their last grenades and switched to their shotguns.

All or nothing now.

His vehicle shook as it also took a shell, by all indication of his driver's curses delivered to its engine. "Keep firing!" the ancient battlemaster cried out as smoke leaked into the compartment, "Either we break, or they do!"

_What I wouldn't do to have a kalinin here now..._

"Battlemaster!" Ralgh coughed over the noise.

"What?"

"You may..." he tried to say, but then another round hit them and sent poor Ralgh face-first into the wall with such force that his face-plate loosened somewhat, an ultimate injury that every krogan feared. It was only by sheer luck that Usorc's own seat-belt held him in place or he'd be unconscious on the side like the communicator now obviously was.

Annoyed, he bent toward the communications' panel and thumbed whatever transmission had come over to the speakers, "- Are you there Regimental Command? This is flight leader Orgus of the Star Blades inbound to your location. Do you copy, over?"

_Flight leader?_

_Ah._

"Turian." Usorc shouted back at the assumed-to-be air support that the turian primarch had promised, "This is battlemaster Gaalsarc Usorc, leader of the eastern front. It is about blasted time you birds came along!"

"Copy that." the alien pilot replied, completely nonplussed. "We are coming in for a bombing run. Just waiting for you to mark the target area."

"Very funny. No, how about this map..." he took the interface overview and dispatched the data on it, "You see all that red there? You bomb this, you bomb that, you kill everything that is bloody red on it. All the husks and all dressed in white armor you can find, including that goddamned rotten 'Mcdonalds' joint on the Citadel for serving the lousiest meat ever!"

Orgus dryly laughed, "We'll see what we can do. As for the last, If I ever sortie at the Citadel... I'll consider it."

"Then we ought to get along swimmingly. Now hit them while we're still here!" Usorc shouted as the battle outside grew progressively worse while pulling Ralgh back onto his seat and slap him awake. "Now damn it, bring the rain!"

"Solid copy!" the flight leader audibly grinned, "Arrival imminent!"

He turned to broadcast; "All warriors... duck. This is going to be awesome, and it is going to be brutal!"

* * *

Kai Leng watched in bewitched horror as the wing of fifteen fighters all largely shaped like an inverted V, unique to the Turian Hierachy, swept across the cityscape at several times the speed of sound, leaving huge audible cracks in their wake.

Quite familiar with turian doctrine, he ordered his troops to retreat and make themselves as scarce as possible. Unlike most other species, the turians did not distinguish between civilians and soldiers when they attack or defend an area. Both are resources, both are enemies if they are on the same side.

Total war. It perpetuated throughout their society and every vessel was a clear image of it. Unrelenting, uncompromising, and in large part indiscriminate. No room for precision bombing. Just all out to break an enemy so they never rise again. Every weapon made to inflict maximum damage and produce results.

Utterly lethal in their intent, the fighters shattered the air yet again as they passed the krogan offensive in a torrent of raw speed, and let loose with the entire scope of their ordnance the moment they crossed a certain line. From hidden compartments small but incredibly destructive bombs and missiles were launched in great quantities, leaving a storm of ion-blue trails as all this traveled to their intended targets... and consumed them.

It was like a whole city section exploded as a gigantic wall of fire erupted across the place from allied ground positions and well into the horizon. Combined with the incessant release of ammunition courtesy of their krogan allies, thousands of ground-based synthetics that stood not even the faintest ghost of a chance against this enormous crossfire were incinerated, turning a vast stretch of the old ruins into a hell-scape of roaring craters, all that weren't hit by the fire, shrapnel and debris were instead knocked flat by intense pressure waves that propagated well beyond the battlefield.

The fighter wing led by Orgus left nothing to chance, and destroyed all that they beheld for as long as they had ordnance to spend. All of the pilots letting surprisingly undisciplined whoops of fury and joy at the destruction they wrought against such a hated foe.

And amidst this carnage, the reaper horde devoid of viable anti-air at this location could do nothing but be vaporized, cut to ribbons, disintegrated or generally annihilated to a 'T' in detail. Almost no husks left in one piece across this whole sector by the time the fighter wing finally finished their run, all munitions spent, and veered away.

As if that was not bad enough, realizing that the army of husks had been entirely broken, the krogan broke out of their self-chosen confinement and spread out through the ruins. And Kai Leng knew what they are after now that nothing else could distract them: Him and his.

"Celebrate while you can, ignorant lizards!" he snarled harshly at the catastrophic scenario and stood to leave, "Your cause is lost, you just don't know it yet. Shepard as well as your precious female is dead and gone... No matter what you do from now, this is our win!"

* * *

All he could remember of what happened was tremor so strong it was as though the whole world was shaking itself apart. Any hint of its cause and source disguised neatly by the impact of a rock to his helmet, hard enough that the kinetic force went into his head and caused an instant blackout with only a weak sensation of being dragged somewhere as he mentally drifted off.

Shepard opened his eyes was for an instant startled by the cloying darkness before recovering. He lay almost motionlessly for the next few moments to let his eyes and HUD adjust to the dimness of this place before he finally and slowly rose.

"Are you well, commander?" Javik inquired as he stepped into view, his disturbing visage reminiscent so much akin to the Collectors accentuated by the dark.

He rubbed his temples, "What happened?"

"Don't know." Wrex's voice greeted him from across this chamber, "Suddenly the desert just rose and buried the whole place. Sure as hell wasn't the reapers, it came straight from behind."

"Have you called for help?"

"Can't."

Shepard stared, momentarily uncomprehending. "What do you mean?"

"We have tried." Javik intoned, "But any receivers out there has remained elusive to our calls. My guess is that the reapers has set up a jamming device somewhere to prevent further contact."

"Damn, it's just what we need." Shepard sighed and searched for his assault rifle that turned out absent from his back – lost during the commotion. So instead he plucked out the sidearm. "We best deal with it as fast as possible. If they are jamming us, it means we got husks looking for survivors."

"Exactly my thought."

Wrex looked sourer than usual as he picked himself up, "And we gotta find Eve. If you weren't out of it I'd be out there already searching for her."

"I'm sure she's safe." Shepard tried to reassure him, "Mordin wouldn't let any harm come to her."

"Hmpf, let's get going. Now."

"Alright. I'll take point." he activated the torch function on his omni-tool and stepped to the only exit not barred by walls of sand, one that lead them deeper underground.

Being made by krogan, for krogan, these structures were properly spacious but no less claustrophobic for it in their general state of disrepair. Runes and paintings covered the walls and ceiling, to which he could only guess as to what they said. He could ask Wrex, but this was not a proper time for it.

Occasionally a slight tremor would hit that shook dust and sand off the ceiling, having accumulated over centuries worth of its inhabitants' absence.

Every path was carefully searched, most that lead to dead ends. This eventually led to only one remaining path that the trio hopefully strode through in search for any way to move on. A tunnel that culminated in a slightly larger chamber than what preceded it, but with a huge rocky door that blocked the way onward.

"Path's blocked.." Javik looked on the hindrance in resignation.

Wrex cursed his ancestors, "The hell we do now?"

"There must be some way to get through this." muttered Shepard as he checked his omni-tool for transmissions of any kind, direct or broadcast. "Either we do, or we're stuck until Hinata comes for us."

"Speaking of the kalinin, what about that jazzy suit of yours?" the Warlord pointed to his OCA, "Does it have anything that might help?"

"Guess I can check."

Javik shrugged, "Please do."

_Come to think of it, I haven't fully integrated this thing into my day to day fighting yet. Old habits die hard I guess_. Shepard thought as he raised his omni-tool bearing arm and curled its hand into the sign the alien kalinin use to knead that exotic energy they can summon for battle.

Done that, three options opened for him to browse through with his free hand. He tried Taijutsu, taking into mind how physically powerful his most alien yet equally as familiar allies could be. Battery was tapped as energy coursed through his armor, focusing along the back, right arm and onto the fist – packing so densely that it was like a part of his body's like a grenade.

"Stand back." Shepard cautioned as he took a second to prepare his stance, and thrust a straight right at the solid door of rock. It felt stupid for an instant to do so, to throw a punch at a wall and expect it to break.

Said mild embarrassment transformed smoothly into surprise as much to his surprise, when his fist met the solid wall, it violently cracked and crumpled inwardly with a colossal boom that sent the resulting debris across the adjacent chamber.

Just like that, he had blasted open a five feet wide craggy hole in an otherwise near-impregnable wall of stone, and otherwise made an important discovery:

The room beyond was inhabited.

Right in front of him milled a sizable mixed group of Cannibals and Marauders. One of the former which lay on the floor, its absolutely hideous face made only slightly prettier with a jagged stone to the mug. All the rest reacted to him instantly and raised weapons.

Shepard managed to pull his gun even faster with his free hand and popped a bullet through an opposing Marauder's head, whose barrier was down from the harsh horizontal rain of rock. "Contact!" he hollered in the same motion he used to duck.

Javik and Wrex stepped to it and aimed through the air where Shepard used to be and let loose as a green-colored beam shot through a Cannibal's chest and dropped it for the others of its kind to come in and feast... until the old krogan's biotic attack reached and smashed them all into the wall.

Using this moment of disruption, Shepard launched himself through the wall and on the other side tapped into his battery again to erect a wide waist-high wall to take cover behind, one also taken into use by his comrades while he provided suppression fire with the pummeling of a Marauder, collapsing its barrier before it could do the same to his and put it down with a final trio of holes in its chest.

His prothean ally finished the rest as he dove out of cover and with a snarl of fury enveloped the remaining enemies with a storm of dark energy, then used it to crush them against the distant wall in a manner much like what Wrex did. Brutal minds think alike. "All clear." Javik reported in passing satisfaction.

Shepard emerged fully, "Stay frosty, there might be more of them."

And to confirm that, the air shook with the high-pitched thunder of a Ravager's dual mass accelerator cannons – weapons fit to dig a hole clean through vehicles. Wrex disengaged from his piece of cover as it shattered. "Up front!" he shouted and initiated a full charge that was wisely so not aimed directly at their enemy.

Shepard and Javik pulled its attention away from their comrade, raking it with gunfire that pinged off its barrier at first. It took the bait and turned its armament on them. Fortunately this distraction was enough to let Wrex close the gap and finally turned his charge at it, bowled the thing over with a solid shoulder strike and placed the coup de grâce with a shotgun blast to its head, displacing it across the adjacent ten feet worth of distance.

"Anything else?!" Wrex roared down the passage, "I can do this all day!"

Nothing answered as he and Javik approached the ancient Warlord, but just as they regrouped a few ticking skitters could be hard from the next chamber. Looks were exchanged and the three journeyed forth in look for whatever produced that sound.

And there, in a corner walked what was indeed Rachni-based, only instead of guns it carried an odd cylinder. Whatever it is, being of reaper manufacture it could not possibly be anything good. So Shepard did the natural thing and shot it repeatedly till the thing stopped moving.

But as soon as it died, his earpiece belched a harsh outburst of static as the jamming field finally dissipated, at which that unit's purpose was revealed. Acting with great immediacy, Shepard acted on this development, "This is Commander Shepard to any unit in range, please respond."

It was with a huge sense of relief that Garrus answered him, "Spirits. It's good to hear from you again. We tried to contact you ever since that sand tsunami ended, thought you were taken by it."

"I would ask as to why exactly you're here, but it doesn't matter. We are on the move underground, trying to find any other survivors. Have you heard from Mordin or Eve?"

"Not a word since what happened. Haven't been able to reach them, same as with you until now."

"As of a few seconds ago, we've found out the reapers now deploy husks that can jam communications. We killed one, but there might be more of them here."

"Grim news." Garrus clicked his mandibles in agitation, "It's been hard for almost everyone."

"How about you tell of our status?" Wrex interjected gruffly.

The turian summarized thus: "Down to forty percent strength at most. Wreav's front is the most intact force remaining. At this location it's a near-total loss. As for the eastern force, they took heavy casualties and lost their leader, so Usorc was forced to take command. Would have lost it entirely if our fighter support hadn't showed up."

"It's something at least." Shepard sighed, folding his arms. "How about Cerberus?"

"Usorc's dealing with them as we speak."

"Good." Javik hissed, his hatred of traitors almost as absolute as that he held for the reapers. "They deserve only death."

"But listen, Shepard." Garrus intoned in regret, "About what happened back there..."

"Tell me later. For now we must consolidate all our strength for the final push." Shepard firmly declared, "As such, I am ordering the recall of all teams planet-side to this location. I want every husk and reaper between here and the Shroud dead before evening hits!"

* * *

**Author notes:** Another chapter out. The Tuchanka arc turned out to last a whole lot longer than I thought it would. Just to note about the future of this fic, it is possible that I will only fully elaborate on one of the game's DLC into the story. And the Cerberus invasion of the Citadel is likely to not happen at all, being rather superfluous as Udina has no reason to turn to the Illusive man in this story. Sounds drastic perhaps, but it's to free up for other things and keep this story from becoming a chore to write.


End file.
